


It's All Bones, Baby

by Deben



Series: You're a Skeleton and Everything's Great (not) [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Usage, Alcohol and Drugs, Bad Driving, Cute, Documentaries, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Female Reader, Flirting, Gang Violence, Graphic Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Jelly skellies, Loss, Nightmares, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader is Pan, Reverse Harem, YOU are a SKELETON, You're Welcome, all my own puns, and befriend them, and hella self indulgent, and i need me some skeletons, and it mostly has to do with alcohol and drugs, and um yes plot maybe on the side, and you get to flirt with skeletons, because, but also angels?, but i have EMOTIONs, but this is just gonna be fun, gross documetaries nobody should be subjected to, how did i forget to add that, i am the pun lord fear me, i can't help cute moments okay, like chip has a lot of trauma, lots of befriending, may take a while, not really good at writing long fics, not the meme, okay, perhaps premature fluff, puns, reader has small discription, retribution my dudes, she's a skeleton like okay how can i not do some describing, skeletons can be assholes, slowish burn, so get ready for some tropes, so there you go tw, so ya, spaghettification, that's a hard maybe, there will Be lOrE, too busy telling my life story tbh, we're probably gonna get into some trauma, will get into some pretty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 78,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deben/pseuds/Deben
Summary: (read the tags)You're a skeleton who's living her life and trying to recover from the traumatic death of your mentor, Gaster.Too bad that damn machine won't stop haunting your thoughts.And now you've gotten yourself into a bit of a pickleIf pickles are alternate universes where a ton of versions of the same two guys are hanging out at.





	1. so you find yourself in an alternate universe

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Six Skeletons in Your Closet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10453650) by [MsMK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsMK/pseuds/MsMK). 
  * Inspired by [Skeleton Squatters and the Landlady](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9816140) by [Tyrant_Tortoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrant_Tortoise/pseuds/Tyrant_Tortoise). 



> Hey guys! Just trying to kick this thing into gear - and um, I'm gonna need a bit of help with ideas and stuff after a while..
> 
> so come to my tumblr or something and give me requests and ideas.
> 
> I also write one shots on this site.
> 
> find me @beanniebenn on tumblr.
> 
> like i know tumblr is dying or something but bite me

 

 

The machine was impressive; it was built with the utmost of care and love, constructed meticulously and had years of thought put into it.

 

So why couldn’t you get it to work?

 

Right now the machine may be impressive, but it’s no more use than a huge hunk of metal and wires.

 

For the thousandth time you looked away from the machine and to the hastily written notes that your mentor had left you before he himself had left - all written in wingdings that was so scribbled you could barley call it legible, not to mention that the notes themselves were written on crumbled and stained paper.

 

“Argh, old man…. Why did you have to go about all of this…?” You mumbled, sifting through the pages until you found the one about programming the machine.

 

Unfortunately, the page was mostly boring jargon until halfway through, where it started instructing the reader to insert coordinates in time space, at which point a coffee stain covered the rest of the passage.

 

Even though you had been his student and assistant, Gaster had only briefly gone over the concept of four dimensional coordinates with you - stating that he himself was not completely aware of how it factored into universes and timelines just yet.

 

Maybe that’s how your mentor had gotten stuck in between.

 

Your skeleton mentor who was the only other skeleton you knew of besides you and your brother...

 

Feeling the futility of the situation, you tiredly flipped the on switch of the machine and watched as it lit up.

 

Once it was completely booted up, it let out a short tune.

 

And this was the fullest extent you were able to work the machine.

 

There were buttons on the side, but you didn’t know what any of them did, and reasonable fear of ending up like your mentor kept you from experimenting with them.

 

You opened the door to the machine, looking inside for any hints.

 

Your gaze wandered around until you saw something shiny at the bottom of the small space, prompting you to crawl in - sure, you were a bit wary of what could happen, but in all the years since your mentor’s disappearance, the machine hadn’t done anything.

 

Falling in with a ‘thunk’ you quickly identified the shining as a smooth black button.

 

It almost looked like the kind that were on Gaster’s black lab coat…

 

Could it be?

 

You shifted your position, pulling your legs underneath you and examining the button. With your shoulders hunched and the sound of your movements echoing around you in the capsule, you almost felt as though you were sitting in a washing machine that hadn’t been turned on.

 

It was kind of unnerving.

 

The machine made a sound. Gravity began to increase all around you, the door slammed shut and in a split second you knew you were trapped.

 

You stashed the button in your pocket and stood, fighting the sudden increase of pressure on your body. Soon enough the pressure had increased to the point where you felt like blue magic was being used on your SOUL and you were pulled back to the ground.

 

Your bones felt like they were imploding.

 

Your skull felt like it was caving in.

 

You passed out.

 

\-----

 

“... Too short…. Sans? …. Gaster brothers…”

 

Ugh. Your everything hurt and the people whispering in the corner weren’t helping with the headache blossoming in your skull.

 

Blossoming was too gentle a word.

 

The headache hammering against the inside of your skull.

 

You let out an involuntary whimper at the pain, and the voices stopped at once. You heard footsteps coming closer, but couldn’t find the physical or mental willpower to actually open your eye sockets.

 

After managing to pry your eye sockets open, your vision swam and you felt ill, causing another groan of displeasure to slip past your teeth. You closed your eye sockets again and tried to level the rhythm of your magic again.

 

They asked you a question. You didn’t hear it.

 

You vaguely muttered something that sounded like a question.

 

More talking from the other people. They began to sit you up, much to your displeasure - you were still feeling rather sick.

 

Once you were upright, a bony hand was placed on the back of your skull and you half hissed half sobbed at the sharp pain.

 

The hand grew warmer until it was scalding and you wanted to pull away, but quickly the pain melted in the familiar comfort healing magic gave off - hm? Where were you?

 

Quickly regaining consciousness, your eye sockets flew open and were assaulted by bright lighting. A few moments later and you were able to see again.

 

Your skull was now completely healed and the hand that had been cradling your skull let go so you were now supporting yourself in this upright position.

 

You were in a lab, but it wasn’t your lab.

 

Instead of clean white walls and tile floors, you were greeted with what looked like a makeshift workshop in somebody’s basement.

 

The machine was pushed into the corner and was attached to a generator so large that it took up the majority of the space in this basement-lab.

 

You yourself were seated on a table - which had probably been in use not too long ago if the papers and supplies pushed to the end were anything to go off of.

 

How did you get here? And more importantly how did the machine get here, too?

 

All you remember was finding a button, then gravity increasing - oh…

 

Had the machine finally done something? Teleported you and itself to somebody’s basement?

 

But where had the generator come from, then? Did somebody else have a machine exactly like the one that your mentor had built?

 

“hey kid, glad to see you’re lookin’ alive.” A deep voice startled you out of your thoughts, and you turned to see another skeleton standing behind the table you were sitting on.

 

You blinked.

 

Another skeleton…? He wasn’t short per say, but his width took away from his height and made him look shorter (not smaller, though) than he was. His skull was oddly round (your skull looked more like your mentor’s - fused jaw and ovular in shape) with especially round cheek bones. His eye sockets were large and round like yours but lidded and had purplish smudges underneath you determined to be caused by lack of sleep. His smile was large and toothy, pulled into a perpetual grin.

 

The strange skeleton wore a messy lab coat over what looked like a blue hoodie and black basketball shorts with a white stripe going down the side.

 

Most curiously was the fact that he was wearing pink slippers.

 

Guess this was probably his basement, after all.

 

“it’s a joke. y’know. ‘cause you’re a skeleton an’ all.” You stared at him.

 

“this is the part where you laugh.”

 

“Ha… ha…?” You tilted your head. He looked like he was sweating blue. Must be the color of his magic.

 

Yours was a light lavender.

 

“Um, where am I?” You asked.

 

He sighed, “tough crowd. ‘s a long story, an’ i’m gonna need t’know more about you before i can really tell you anythin’.”

 

You heard a door opening, the creaking of steps and suddenly there was another skeleton.

 

This one was taller, with a longer skull and smaller sockets. His limbs, unlike the shorter skeleton whose bones looked thick and sturdy, were long and gangly. Although, while they were thinner than the shorter skeleton’s, his bones were still thick and didn’t look easily breakable.

 

He wore an orange hoodie and khaki cargo shorts. On his feet were faded black chucks with frayed and untied laces. He gave you an awkward smile when you looked back up at his face.

 

He held out a plate of spaghetti and a fork to you, which you took and sat on your lap.

 

“... you… you bonked your head pretty hard on the ground when that machine spit you out, so i went an’ got you some food. should feel good as new.”

 

You were already feeling significantly better after being healed, but you knew that healing magic made the person who was being healed hungry, so you decided to eat.

 

The skeletons watched you wordlessly while you finished the food.

 

It tasted awful so you didn’t summon your tongue to eat, which shortened the amount of time it took to eat and pretty soon you were finished. 

 

You set the plate and fork on the table next to you.

 

Your gaze brushed over the skeletons then over to the machine. You pointed to it. “The machine spit me out here?” You asked.

 

The shorter skeleton cleared his throat, “uh, ya, see ‘s a little whacked out an’ sometimes decides to drag skeletons from other universes over to ours.”

 

Different universes…?

 

“You mean you can actually get that stupid machine to work?”

 

The taller skeleton shrugged, “more or less.” He answered ominously, gesturing to yourself, “not very well, though.”

 

You nodded your skull, taking the room in with more interest. A different universe…

 

“Um. Ya. Okay. So. How do I… get back? Can I go back?”

 

The skeletons let out identical sighs and shook their skulls. The shorter one spoke up. “not right now, no. we’re, uh, tryin’ to figure out how to send everybody back…”

 

You raised a brow bone, suddenly very curious, “everybody?”

 

“ya, currently the machine has dragged about… ehhhh ten or so versions of me an’ my bro over here. so far.” the blue skeleton answered. You pointed to the taller skeleton in question. He shook his head, “nah, stretch here is another version of papyrus… which begs the question… who are you?”

 

You gave them your name.

 

“hn. that’s new.” The taller skeleton said, eyeing you. “so far it’s only been sanses and papyruses… you know any guys that go by those names back from where you’re from?”

 

“No,” you replied, “In fact, you guys are the only skeletons i’ve met besides my brother, and well…”

 

“Well?” The shorter one (Sans, you presumed) prompted you.

 

“My mentor, Gaster. Wingdings Gaster. He’s the one who made the machine in my universe.”

 

“mine, too, ‘cept he was my dad.”

 

“A buddy of mine, my mentor made the one in my universe. gaster’s still my dad, though.”

 

So they both knew Gaster in their universes? Did he fall into the machine, too?

 

“Oh. Well. Gaster never had any kids in my universe. That I knew of at least.” you told them honestly. You couldn’t really imagine Gaster as a father… sure he served somewhat as a parental figure in your life since you’d known him since you were a babybones, but still…

 

“no sans or papyrus…” Sans mumbled, jotting something down in a notebook.

 

“so where’d you come from, then? don’t remember any other skeletons underground.” Stretch (Papyrus?) started.

 

“oh. good question.” Sans told him, flipping the page in his little notebook.

 

“Underground? Like, in a coffin?” Umm… sure some humans may think otherwise, but as a fellow skeleton you thought that he should know skeletons didn’t come from dead human bodies… monster skeletons, at least.

 

“no, like, mt. ebott.” Stretch clarified.

 

“Mount what? Look, man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never been underground in my life.”

 

“... but… when humans sealed monsters under the mountain? don’t you remember that?” Sans cut in, staring at you intently.

 

“No, that never happened. How would humans even do that anyways? They can’t use magic. We’d defeat them for sure.”

 

“interesting. so you grew up on the surface?”

 

“Um...Ya?? Is that bad? Is there something wrong?”

 

“nope.” Sans finished whatever he was writing and flipped the small book shut, stuffing it in his lab coat which he threw off seconds later. “c’mon, kid. let’s get you introduced t’everyone upstairs. Looks like you’re gonna be here for awhile.”

 

Why aren’t you panicking? You feel like you should be panicking. This is not a normal situation. You were literally eaten by a machine and thrown into another universe where apparently there are tons of versions of the same two people hiding out.

 

Two people who don’t even exist where you come from. But know Gaster?

 

“So. Um. Gaster? Is he here? Can I see him?” You asked as you followed the skeletons up the stairs leading into the main house.

 

Sans sighed.

 

“no.”

 

You let it be. It sounded like there was a lot of baggage in that word.

 

 


	2. our scenic house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans shows you around and a wild red appears

****

 

The house looked rather normal. 

 

It was large, sure, but Sans and the other skeleton (you were just going to go with the other skeleton’s name for him - stretch, you were sure having a bunch of versions of the same people made naming difficult) had told you that they currently had six skeletons in the house.

 

They told you there was room for you if you wanted to stay.

 

I mean, where else can you go?

 

In the living room alone there were three full sized couches and a ridiculous amount of consuls stationed around a flat screen TV that took up half the wall. Book shelves pushed up against the wall held thousands of hours of movies and thousands of dollars worth of games.

 

“Whoa.”

 

Stretch noogied your skull with a chuckle, smiling as you indignantly pushed him off. “ya, we get that reaction a lot. there’re lots of gamers in the house, hence the insane amount of games.”

 

Some shuffling was heard from what you presumed to be the kitchen. “sounds like red’s in th’ kitchen. might as well get introduced.” Sans said, gesturing for you and Stretch to follow him as he casually strolled into the room.

 

“Red?” You asked, bouncing up behind the shorter skeleton.

 

He looked at you from the side of his eye socket and grimaced. “... ya. he’s another sans. him and his brother… well… their universes weren’t the nicest so they might - will - be a little prickly towards newcomers.”

 

“Noted.”

 

The kitchen was just as, if not more, grand than the living room. It looked as though five people could cook in it at once without feeling crowded; with multiple electric stove tops and at least three ovens that you could see, not to mention there was more counter space than you could ever know what to do with.

 

There was but one thing off in this sparkly kitchen with a literal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, mirrors that covered the back wall and showcased a beautiful backyard, dark oak cabinets and polished marble counter tops - and that was the being rummaging around in the sleek and advanced looking fridge that was taller than even Stretch (and that guy was pushing seven feet).

 

From what you could see he was wearing a black hoodie (zipped up - unlike Sans who didn’t care that his white undershirt with questionable food stains was showing) and shorts similar to Sans’ - just with yellow stripes down the side. Also similar to Sans was the black house slippers he wore on his skeletal feet.

 

“oi. red.” Sans called, attempting to get the attention of the skeleton.

 

His skull jerked up in surprise resulting in him bumping his head against the roof of the fridge. 

 

“fuck fuck fuck!! fuck, classic what the hell is it?” Red shouted angrily, slamming the fridge door and turning towards his blue counterpart.

 

Okay whoa. This guy wasn’t as tall as Stretch, but considering that Sans was just shy of six feet, you could say that this Sans was freakin’ huge. He was over six feet tall, and while Sans has thick bones, this guy’s limbs are not only definitely thicker than a human’s, but he looks freakin’ jacked.

 

His face was similar to Sans’ in the way that you supposed alternate versions of the same peoples’ are, but what struck you were the small cracks near the back of his skull and huge shark teeth I mean what the heck seriously. Not to mention that one of them was freakin’ golden. How’d he lose a chomper like that?

 

You quickly hid behind Sans - much to Stretch’s amusement - hey, you weren’t gonna mess with that monster of a skeleton.

 

“wanted to introduce you t’another skeleton the machine spit out.” Sans replied, completely unfazed.

 

“skeleton? as in singular? i swear if i hafta deal with another dusty imunna…” Red tapered off with a growl and you could only assume that whoever this ‘Dusty’ was, he was not in good graces with Red.

 

“nah, th’kid’s harmless.”

 

He side stepped to expose you to Red’s gaze. You shot him a nasty glare, but he was still uncaring of any hostility sent his way… this skeleton… 

 

Red looked you over with a concerning amount of scrutiny, which you found completely unnerving - especially due to his standoffish appearance.

 

You suddenly felt insecure about your appearance; you weren’t wearing anything special, only wearing a large lavender sweater and dark jeans and boots as it was getting to be the cold time of year.

 

His red eyelights flicked over your right eye socket and you had to fight the urge to cover the imperfection.

 

After what felt like minutes, he grinned wide at you and offered a large hand and a wink. “‘sup, th’name’s red. ‘scuse me askin’... but you don’ seem t’be a papyrus or sans... “ A bright red tongue slipped from between his fangs and ran over his teeth. “don’ think any of us could be so cute…” Another wink.

 

Instant kill.

 

You were sure your face was reaching a darker shade of purple than it had ever been as you took his hand and stuttered out a response, starting with your name (if you could even remember it at this point - stars, he wasn’t subtle, was he?)

 

“And, um, no, I’m not a Papyrus or Sans…” Okay he was holding onto your hand for a really long time and any longer you were sure you would turn into some sort of weird skeleton eggplant.

 

“‘kay, red, lay off he kid.” Sans interjected, placing a hand on your shoulder.

 

Thank you Sans, for keeping this skeleton from exploding…

 

“kid? i don’ see no stripes, ey, doll?”

 

“W-well, no I’m… I’m an adult.”

 

“just cut it out, red, don’t you have something better to do than bug chip here?” Stretch added. He sounded… bitter… ?

 

“Chip?” you asked, shrugging off the two other skeletons and looking at the tall orange skeleton.

 

Said skeleton blushed a bright orange, looking away from you and scratching at his cheekbone. “uh… ya, ‘cause you gotta chip in your front teeth…”

 

You instantly covered your mouth, feeling self conscious. You know he didn’t mean it in a bad way… but… oh, well. It’s not like you weren’t used to people calling you out for your chipped tooth or weird eye socket… that chick  _ had _ done a literal bang up job on your face.

 

“o-oh, sorry, did you not want to be called that?” Stretch asked, worried that he’d offended you. 

 

He…. he didn’t have any malicious intent, he even seemed regretful to have potentially offended you.. He wasn’t teasing you. And, it’s not like the chip was any new development… maybe… maybe you should let go of your insecurities and let yourself enjoy nicknames from new friends? With this new mindset, you smiled back at him, showing off the chip to show that it was fine. 

 

“No, no, it’s okay. It’s actually kind of cute.”

 

He grinned at you, and noogied your skull in an affectionate manner, “‘kay, chip.”

 

“let’s get you settled in before we go about meeting everybody else and assigning nicknames. i’ll show you to your room.” Sans said, starting to lead you back to the living room.

 

“i got some stuff t’do, so i’ll leave the tour to sans.” Stretch said, shooting you one last wink before disappearing.

 

“Whoa. You guys can teleport too?” You asked Sans with wide sockets.

 

Sans gave you your fourth wink of the day as he lead you upstairs. What’s up with these skeletons… are all of them going to be trying to get under your skin? 

 

Haha, bad joke.

 

As you walked down the hallway, Sans pointed to each colorful door (some with signs, others with drawings) and told you the name of the occupant.

 

To the direct left of the stairs was a small library-esque space with tall shelves filled with books and comfy reading chairs and pillows strewn about. On the right was a hallway with rooms parallel to each other.

 

The first doors across from each other were Sans’ and Red’s rooms, with Sans on the left and Red on the right. Next to Red’s was ‘Slilm’s’, with a bathroom between them and across from ‘Slim’ was Stretch (apparently connected by a bathroom non visible from the hallway).

 

“my bro papyrus and stretch’s bro blue are on the ground floor, by the way.” Sans mentioned when he finished the tour. “they’re… excitable, but helpful. If you need anything they’ll be happy to help.”

 

“Thanks… but, uh, where will I be staying?”

 

“third floor,” sans replied, motioning you to follow him up another set of stairs behind a door at the end of the hallway. “was originally just an attic but it was pretty large so we fixed it up a bit and put a wall up so we could have a guest bedroom  _ and _ a game room.”

 

The game room wasn’t too large, although you supposed it was because it shared its space with the adjoining room.

 

However, that didn’t mean there was a lack of entertainment - there were several TVs and even  _ more _ consoles than downstairs, all hooked up to different equipment with bean bags and gaming chairs scattered around. Not only were there virtual games, though, there were shelves stocked with board games and card games - some you recognized, others you didn’t. In the middle of the room there was a ping pong table and an air hockey table parallel to one another.

 

In the back of the room a large window spanned across the wall with black out curtains that weren’t drawn.

 

“this is the door to your room... sorry if anybody keeps you up gaming. just shout and they’ll leave.”

 

The door was simple and painted white. Behind it was a nice albeit simple room with a queen sized bed draped in muted colors, a moderate window on the wall with the same view as the game room and some other furniture - a dresser, desk with a chair, and a lamp.

 

“‘s plain right now, but blue an’ paps will prolly be excited if y’tell ‘em you want t’go shopping for decorations… i’ll send one of ‘em up to get you when dinner’s ready if you want some time alone.”

 

“Thank you, Sans, that would be nice… this is a lot to process.”

 

He gave you a nod then disappeared.

 

When he was gone you promptly kicked off your boots by the door and flopped onto the bed that was now yours.

 

It smelled nice, but obviously hadn’t been used in awhile. It was a few minutes before you decided to check under the bed and look through the drawers for anything useful that might have been left behind by a previous guest.

 

You found a pair of sweatpants that were several times too large, a black turtleneck shirt that smelled like strawberries and a pair of socks that you left alone, and some slippers underneath the dresser. Not to mention some… private items that obviously hadn’t been opened or used under the bed.

 

However awkward finding the socks and … other items were, you were glad to find some slippers. You didn’t really want to walk around with bare feet or with only socks… that would be even more awkward.

 

Flicking on the lamp and shutting the curtains on your window, you took off your sweater and jeans and replaced them with the clothes you had found, sliding your feet into the slippers and setting your folded dirty clothes on top of the dresser.

 

Since the sweatpants were so large you had to fold the waist in several times as well as the pant legs. The turtle neck was a better fit, although while it seemed to fit you lengthwise, it was still very wide and you had to pull the sleeves up past your elbows.

 

Finally, you faced the door that would take you out of your bedroom and hesitated… were you really okay with this? Your entire life had just been turned around, and here you were… about to pretend that this  _ wasn’t _ crazy and that you  _ didn’t  _ feel like having a mental breakdown.

 

You left your room.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow... that was a lot more kudos than i was expecting... glad you like it! i actually really like writing this, so i can say that it really makes me happy to see that you guys enjoy it, too!
> 
> i really wanted this out yesterday but i'm on vacation and the wifi is spotty, so it's been difficult to stay connected for more than thirty seconds at a time,,,, and so here i am today.
> 
> i'm not sayin' this weekly thing is gonna hold up forever (uni is a demanding b) but if i do update, i'll try to make it on a thursday or monday (least busy on those days)
> 
> ...  
> ..  
> .
> 
> okaybyeiloveyou


	3. documentaries are great bonding tools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red and you bond over the horrors of nature and a certain someone crashes the party...

Okay. Okay. Okay.

 

You were going to do this.

 

You were going to go downstairs, and you were going to interact with the skeletons that were now your roommates.

 

On the final step of the stairs that lead to the living room, you stopped.

 

Red. Was. Sitting on the couch and watching something.

 

Normally, you wouldn’t be so intimidated, but as has been previously mentioned, this guy was freakin’ HUGE, built like a brick house and had chompers the size of kitchen knives, not to mention the obvious cracks on his skull that told the story of a violent past.

 

A past that someone like you would know all too well.

 

What it was like to grow up in a neighborhood that made you fear for your life walking home. A place where you keep your head low and stay away from the scuffles coming from the alley. Where it was kill or be killed.

  
  


Somehow you could never fully escape the violence.

 

You phalanges gently found the spot on your right eye socket where her punch had made the once smooth curve of your eye socket rough and chipped, to the area under where a large scrape that had only gone deep enough to leave a permanent dent on your cheek was.

 

Brass knuckles hurt like a bitch.

 

You watched Red for perhaps only a few more moments before a heavy sigh left him, and his skull lolled in your direction.

 

“‘ey, doll. watcha up to?” He asked, pausing what he was watching. You stuttered for a bit, feeling your skull heat as you tried to come up with a reason to why you would be staring at him while he was minding his own business in his own home…

 

“N-nothing…” you replied, finally gathering the courage to take that one last step after you’d already been caught. “Just.. um… what are you watching?”

 

Red made a ‘hmph’ noise before gesturing to the TV, which had the paused image of some fish swimming around in brilliant blue water. “sum documentary on th’ocean.” he shrugged.

 

You brightened visibly, perking up and grinning a little. “I love documentaries! Can… can I watch with you?” You asked, hazarding a few steps closer.

 

Red’s eyelights rolled around in his socket, and for a second you thought you were about to be rejected, but Red grinned at you, “‘m not gonna  _ exclude _ you ‘r anythin’.”

 

Was that a ‘yes, goober, get over here!’ or ‘i’m not going to actively stop you but i’d prefer it if you left me alone.’...?

 

At your silence, Red continued, “c’mon, sweetheart, i dun’ bite…” the dangerous edge to his grin that you’d seen in the kitchen came back as he looked up and down.

 

You suddenly felt even less adequate than you did before. At least then you were wearing your own clothes that fit. Now you were in what looked like an older brother’s hand-me-downs (except your brother wouldn’t fit these clothes, either - he was shorter than Stretch, but lankier, too).

 

Red didn’t seem perturbed, though, because his grin stuck as he raised a brow bone at you, “less, o’course, ya want me to…”

 

This, of course, got an embarrassed squeak out of you, but you didn’t hesitate to quickly pad your way over to the place next to Red where he was patting. Once you were sat next to him, almost close enough for your to explode, red shrugged part of the incredibly fluffy and soft orange blanket over you that he’d had around his shoulders so that you shared it.

 

“pay attention an’ dun’ go yappin’, kay? this shit is interestin’.” He told you, not taking his eyes off the screen as he hit play.

 

You nodded your affirmative, and snuggled into the blanket, focusing on the colorful fish that flitted by on the screen.

 

You wondered if anything in this universe’s wild life was different since monsters had apparently been trapped for so long under a mountain.

 

Was Red trapped, too, in his universe? You glanced over at the skeleton next to you, who was at this point completely enraptured by the documentary, and studied him some from this new vantage point.

 

Sans and that other skeleton, Stretch, had seemed surprised that you  _ hadn’t _ , so it was likely that all of the skeletons that had been pulled into this universe had been underground for most of their lives… possibly only escaping when they were pulled into this universe…

 

How sad.

 

\---

When the documentary ended, neither you nor Red made any move to get up, you just watched as the streaming service started loading up a recommended documentary. This one was about the rainforest. Interesting.

 

Neither of you wanted to grab the remote to skip the time it took for the countdown ‘till what was next played.

 

Instead, Red spoke up.

 

“been thinkin’... what fucked your socket up so badly?” He inquired, still not looking at you.

 

You blushed again, but this time in shame. Of course he wouldn’t be willing to just ignore the imperfection.

 

“Got hit in the face. I got roped into a fight that I wasn’t really prepared for… and the other chick had a good arm. Some brass knuckles, too. ‘Course I didn’t know that until I was laid out on the street leaking marrow from my eye socket.”

 

Red snorted, looking down at you for the first time since you’d sat next to him. “really? sum’un was pickin’ on a little thing like  _ you _ ?”

 

You shrugged. “I was a kid. It was before I stopped growing. Believe it or not, I was pretty tall for my age.”

 

“fuck, what kinda kid’s got brass knuckles layin’ around?”

 

You were silent.

 

“wasn’t no kid, wassit?”

 

You shrugged.

 

Red didn’t have anymore time to question you since the next documentary had finally loaded, leaving your silence to be filled with strange music that documentaries always used to make their information sound more shocking and interesting.

 

\---

 

Red’s rule of staying quiet during the documentaries was apparently void on this one, because neither of you were doing a very good job of keeping silent as fungi and weird bugs and weird bug fungi made their appearance.

 

“Oh My Asgore what the Ever Loving Stars is that?!”

 

At some point you had shifted your body around enough to where you were draped across Red’s crossed legs, lying on a pillow, and you directed your comment directly upwards at Red, whose gaze was steadily fixed in abject horror at the screen.

 

He looked as traumatized as you felt.

 

“fuck. fuck. i dun’ know, holy fuck.”

 

“This is awful and I hate this??” You said to yourself, covering your eye sockets as a wasp laid its eggs in a caterpillar.

 

“fuck. i knew a guy that looked like that.” Red said.

 

“Which one, the wasp or the caterpillar?”

 

“both, and they were bastards, but  _ fuck _ that’s awful.”

 

“...” You giggled to yourself, it was awful, but you had to.

 

Red looked down at you questioningly.

 

“what?” he asked.

 

You looked away for a second, almost completely overcome with giggles, but once you calmed, you looked back towards Red.

 

“What if like, they watched this documentary together, and like, it got to this part, but, like, they just sat still and looked straight ahead, not acknowledging each other.”

 

For a few agonizing moments Red was still and unresponsive, and you thought your joke had gotten a little too dark before Red broke up into massive chuckles, bouncing so hard that you were being jostled on his lap.

 

“fuck… “ laughter, “like, the wasp just” wheeze, “he turns to the caterpillar, an’, an’ he says,” Red paused for the punchline, “ _ kinky _ .”

 

And then you were both lost to your amusement, laughing and generally acting like stupid kids making sex jokes, which is essentially which you had just done.

 

Your laughter was cut short, though, when the front door slammed open, scaring you straight off of Red’s lap and onto the floor, which prompted the two of your to break into another round of laughter almost immediately.

 

Stomping was heard until it stopped presumably right in front of your place on the floor.

 

You looked up. And saw. A skeleton that was somehow way taller than Stretch and ten times as menacing as Red.

 

You nearly screamed, jumping up to pull the blanket from Red’s shoulders and wrapping it around yourself, hiding slightly behind his big arm.

 

Impatient foot tapping.

 

You peaked at the skeleton again, and if you had a throat you would have gulped, because upon second glance he was just as scary.

 

He looked to be another version of Papyrus, and he didn’t look like Sans’ brother… which meant… you took a quick look at Red.

 

His brother, Slim? Their style certainly matched.

 

This new skeleton had a face shape as Stretch, but with wicked sharp teeth and what looked like straight up  _ claw marks _ tearing through his left brow down past his eye socket. And. Those cheekbones that looked like weapons on their own?

 

He wore something like a chestplate that didn’t reach his floating ribs and was black with red accents and spiky shoulders that were almost as sharp as his features. He wore black leather pants to match the look with an expensive looking belt that had a golden skull for a buckle and bright red shiny sassy heeled boots.

 

On his hands were similarly textured gloves that were also spikey, somehow? And a tattered scarf of the same shade was draped around his neck and flowed behind him like a cape.

 

_ Villain _ was the first word that popped into your head.

 

He didn’t look impressed with either you or Red.

 

When neither of you spoke, he sighed, grabbing the remote from the coffee table and shutting the TV off, glancing at the content you had been watching and getting a disturbed look on his skull for all of .0001 seconds before it was gone.

 

“Brother.” He started, getting a stern look as he crossed his arms.

 

“I Want You To Think About Your Words Before You Answer Me. Now. What Is This Skeleton Doing In Our Home?”

 

Before Red cold even try to recover from his stunned state, you moved from your place behind his arm and faced the skeleton head on.

 

I mean, Red was a pretty cool guy, even if he looked scary, so who knows? The same thing could go for Slim, and then you’d have another friend in this house!

 

You offered your name to the skeleton, and added, “Slim, right? You’re Red’s brother!”

 

Slim clearly taken aback by your openness and politeness as you made a move to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you! I haven’t really heard much about you, but that makes it more fun to get to know you, huh?”

 

He eventually gripped your hand back and cleared his non-existent throat, composing himself and putting the stern look back on his skull.

 

“You Are Right, I Am Slim. But You Didn’t Answer My Question, What Are You Doing Here?” His voice was heavy with suspicion.

 

“Oh.. uh… well, I guess the machine dragged me here, y’know, from my own universe and all? Didn’t think it was too uncommon among you all..”

 

Red finally found his voice, albeit he was still very nervous sounding, “ya, boss, chip ‘ere was brought in jus’ this afternoon.”

 

Chip? Again? Was this going to be what everybody called you?

 

“I See… And You’ll Be Living With Us, In The Guest Room I Presume?” you nodded your skull.

 

“It Explains The Tiny Tyrant’s Shirt and The Mutt’s Sweats, At Least.” He muttered. Oh. Were those who the clothes belonged to? Also, Tiny Tyrant and Mutt? What awful nicknames…

 

“Oh Well. If You’re Going To Be Staying Here, I Might As Well Lay Out Some Ground Rules.”

 

“Um, actually,” you interjected, “Sans already explained everything to me.” Slim’s eyelights traveled over to Red, who shook his skull.

 

“Oh. You Mean THAT Blue Vanilla Excuse For A Skeleton? Well, Excuse Me, My Dear If I Don’t Think That Pathetic Sack Of Bones Could Put In The Actual Effort To Give A Proper Run Down Of How Things Work Around Here.”

 

He paused at your skeptical look. Yeah, right, there’s no way you’re going to do what this guy says just because he thinks Sans didn’t ‘do it right’.

 

He let out an exasperated sigh, gesturing to the kitchen. “If You Don’t Believe Me, We Have The House Rules Posted On The Fridge. Vanilla Didn’t Show You  _ That _ , Did He?”

 

The look on your skull must have said it all. “Of Course Not..” he muttered, offering his hand to you, “Now, If You Don’t Mind, I’ll Take You To Review The List Now.”

 

You heard Red mutter something about a ‘smooth motherfucker’ as you took his offered gloved hand and he lead you to the kitchen, pointing to a paper that had  been taped to the fridge with numbers and arrows and  _ lots _ of highlighting.

 

“Rule Number One, No Killing. Fighting Is Permitted, Outside Of The House, Of Course, We Are Not Heathens.”

 

You nodded, seemed easy enough.

 

“Rule Number Two, No Destroying Others’ Property. Which, Mind You, Extends To Just About Everything In This House.”

 

“I would never.” you told him seriously, earning a stern nod of approval.

 

“Rule Number Three, An Extension Of Rule Two, No Setting The House On Fire.”

 

What?

 

“Now, An Exemption To Rule Number Two Is IF YOUR LAZY GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BROTHER LEAVES HIS SOCKS LAYING AROUND LIKE AN ANIMAL, IN WHICH CASE YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO AS YOU SEE FIT WITH THE OFFENDING ARTICLES.”

 

You got the feeling that exception was made with certain people in mind, if Red’s grumbling was anything to go by.

 

Also, ew, what kind of sicko just leaves socks  _ laying around _ ? When you voiced your thought to Slim, he smirked. “Ask My Brother.” was all he replied with.

 

Oh. Did Red actually… oh. Oh.

 

Was Slim… laughing at your discomfort? You looked back at him, but he was composed as ever. Did you… did you imagine that?

 

“Rule Number Four… If You, For Some Reason, Meet Someone And You Want To Have Some Private Time With Them, NOT IN THE HOUSE. Take Them Elsewhere. As In Anywhere, Anywhere Else.”

 

You nodded your head with a lavender blush, unsure of how to reply to that…

 

… But the more you thought about it, neither Slim or Red were awful, like you were hinted at that they’d be. Sure, Red was a huge goofball with gross tendencies and Slim was the walking embodiment of terror, but even he was civilized, polite… and funny, too.

 

They weren’t bad people. Just good people who’d been handed shit cards and had to make due.

 

Maybe you would fit in here after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter felt shorter than it actually was,,,,,,
> 
>  
> 
> SO, my plans for reader's backstory is to mostly just release it in small pieces. once you got most of the pieces i'll probably make a chapter or two that goes over everything in flashback form.
> 
> it's also seven in the morning where i am so hi, i'm dying
> 
>  
> 
> anyways, happy new year even though it's been a few days!
> 
>  
> 
> i love you all...
> 
> you give me life...
> 
> ...okey that's it...
> 
> see you next week...


	4. the ethics of lasagna (there are none)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> readz meets papy and blue,,, the ethics of lasagna are discussed and we find out red might have a bit of a ... problem.
> 
> hopefully readz doesn't get too many bad memories.

It was at that moment that for the second time in ten minutes the door was thrown open and a tall, loud skeleton resembling Stretch and Slim entered the house. Hot on his heels was another, shorter skeleton, with the appearance of a Sans, but a similar dressing appearance as the skeleton he entered with and Slim.

 

Sans’ brother and Stretch’s brother, then.

 

You heard Slim curse something under his breath, but you paid him no mind as you wandered into the entry hall and greeted the two skeletons.

 

Well, more like you took a step outside the kitchen and were immediately spotted by the two boisterous skeletons.

 

Upon closer examination, the taller one, presumably Papyrus, had a long skull like both Stretch and Slim, but with a cheery smile and round, high cheekbones. His outfit was almost something of a counterpart to Slim’s; it had a similar style, with a chest plate, although his was white with red accents and… much less spiky. He also wore similar, albeit less spiky boots and gloves, and a newer or perhaps more cared for red scarf of the same shade and style as Slim’s. Instead of pants, though, much to your embarrassment, he wore something resembling a speedo (although, thankfully, he wore a black bodysuit underneath so no bones were exposed).

 

The next skeleton, using process of elimination, you concluded was Blue. his face was round like the other Sans’ you’d met, although there were slight differences, like the fact that his eye sockets were larger. He wore no chest plate (opting instead for a simple gray shirt), but he did have pristine white shoulder pads decorated with baby blue accenting, which looked fairly sturdy and black shorts. Similar to Papyrus and Slim’s style, he also had boots and gloves, although they were the same baby blue accenting his shoulder pads. Instead of a scarf, though, Blue sported a bandana slightly darker than the blue of the rest of his outfit and despite some tears on the ends, they, too, were in perfect condition.

 

Both their arms were laden with grocery bags, and you hesitantly reached out to take some.

 

Groceries seemed to be the last thing on either skeleton’s mind, though, because they dropped the groceries as soon as they saw you, causing you to cringe. You didn’t hear any glass or eggs breaking, though, so you assumed that nothing was too damaged.

 

They rushed forward, and suddenly your senses were filled with bright grins and loud questions firing at a pace you couldn’t keep up with.

 

You were so overloaded with sound, in fact, that you didn’t even register Slim’s hand on your shoulder until both skeletons had quieted, looking up questioningly at Slim behind you.

 

You sighed in relief and took a moment  to not only compose you, but notice for the first time since you’d first seen the new skeletons their height.  Now that they were basically standing two inches from you.

 

Papyrus was tall like the other Papyri, although he was from what you could tell taller than Stretch and shorter (just by a little) than Slim. Blue was shorter than both Red and Sans, although he still beat you by more than a few inches. At least five or so, if the fact that your eyes were level with his jaw was anything to go by.

 

What was up with these skeletons, anyways? They were making you feel so short, and you were average sized - 5”3. Okay. Maybe a bit under the average.

 

“... Can’t You See You’re Scaring The Runt?” Okay. Wow. That was a bad time to tune in. Thanks, Slim.

 

Blue gasped, bending down slightly to be eye level with you - slightly infuriating, since it kept reminding you of your height.

 

“I’M SO SORRY! I DON’T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME!” He looked back and saw the abandoned groceries.

 

“AND I EVEN LET THE GROCERIES FALL ON THE GROUND! EXCUSE ME ONE MOMENT, MISS!”

 

Blue rushed away to get the groceries, loading all of the bags - okay, there were at least thirty how was he doing that? - and rushing to the kitchen. You watched as he dissapeared into the fridge, rapidly putting things away, then turned back to Papyrus, who had been waiting patiently for your attention.

 

He looked somewhat sheepish, probably due to Slim’s scolding.

 

“Hello,” you started, offering your hand to him. You also offered your name and had the pleasure of watching his face light up as he took your hand and shook it exuberantly.

 

“HELLO, MY NAME IS PAPYRUS! I’M VERY EXCITED TO MEET ANOTHER SKELETON SUCH AS YOURSELF, BUT IF I MAY INQUIRE WHY YOU’RE VISITING US?” He ended the question with a small head tilt like a puppy, and you couldn’t get the image of a golden retriever out of your head. Wow. So polite. And cute. What a sweetheart.

 

“Oh. The machine brought me, so I’ll be staying with you and your family for a bit. Until it’s repaired, that is.” You answered him.

 

“WONDERFUL! I’M SO GLAD TO HAVE SOMEONE THAT IS NOT ME OR MY BROTHER AROUND!” He nervously looked to Slim, who was tapping his foot with a raised eyebrow and then to Blue, who was still buried in the fridge.

 

“ERM, THAT IS, NOT THAT I DON’T APPRECIATE THE CURRENT COMPANY!”

 

You had to stifle a giggle at that, his genuineness was very refreshing.

 

Slim began talking to Papyrus, and naturally curious as you were, you listened in. Plus, it’s not like they must have minded much seeing as how they were conversing right over your head.

 

“Did You Get All The Proper Ingredients For My Lasagna Tonight?” Slim asked with a surprisingly placid tone.

 

Even though he’d been nothing but polite to you, you still assumed he might be rather standoffish to others. Guess you were wrong.

 

“OH. WELL. UM. I KNOW YOU WANTED YOU SPECIAL RICOTTA CHEESE. BUT. WELL. MS. KIM SAID THEY DIDN’T STOCK ANY THIS MONTH, SO I GOT YOU - “

 

“Ms. Kim? You Mean Angie? Papyrus, How Many Times Have I Told You To Ignore What That She-devil Says? She Always Lies, Papyrus,  _ Always. _ ” Slim said, gaining an irritated edge to his voice.

 

“YES BUT I REALLY DIDN’T WANT TO CAUSE A SCENE, AND SHE REFUSED TO CALL IN THE MANAGER, SO I DIDN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT.” Aw. Papyrus just sounded so guilty and sorry.

 

Slim sighed. Boy. He sighs a lot. "Personally, I Would Have Cornered Her And Fed That Lie Right Back-"

 

"NOW, SLIM-"

 

"A Figure Of Speech, Papyrus, I Would Have Trapped Her In Her Own Lie, Forcing Her To Confront Her Own Treachery In Front Of Her Manager."

 

"I WAS SORT OF HOPING I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING DRASTIC AND SHE WOULD COME AROUND!! I REALLY BELIEVE SHE CAN!"  


 

“Honestly, Papyrus. Just. Next Time I’ll Go Myself And Have A Few Words With Angie SO She’ll Think Twice Before Using That Lying Tongue.  _ Especially  _ When It Concerns My Lasagna.” Slim’s voice darkened considerably at his last comment, and for a second you could see his aura match up with his terrifying visage.

 

You feel sorry for Angie.

 

Papyrus looked as though he might share the same sentiment, nervously wringing his hands.

 

“UM. LAST TIME YOU ‘HAD A FEW WORDS’ WITH A STORE EMPLOYEE THEY WEREN’T SEEN FOR THREE MONTHS AFTERWARDS. ARE YOU SURE THAT IS AN. ETHICAL? APPROACH TO CONFLICT SOLUTION?” Papyrus asked, looking worried on behalf of Angie.

 

“Ethics Have Nothing To Do With Lasagna.”

 

“OH. WELL. YOU CERTAINLY HAVE A POINT THERE, SLIM!! I’M JUST GOING TO… TO… PLAN OUT BATTLE SCENARIOS! YES, THAT IS WHAT I WILL BE DOING! IN MY ROOM! GOODBYE, SLIM! OH, AND,” Papyrus said your name, quieter and more serious, although with a genuine smile on his face. “IT WAS NICE TO MEET YOU! I’M VERY GLAD YOU WILL BE JOINING OUR SKELETON TROUPE!”

 

Then he was gone. Just as suddenly as he had entered. Like a hurricane or something else of similar impact. He left you slightly flustered and with ringing ears.

 

“Unfortunately I Also Have Matters To Attend To. If You See My Brother, Remind Him That He Is To Be Present For Lasagna Night.” Slim requested.

 

You looked back to the couch, confused. Wasn’t Red still there…? It’d only been a few minutes.

 

Nope. He was gone.

 

“Don’t Be Hurt If He Suddenly Disappears Like That When You’re Together. You Get Used To It. Our Brothers Are Not So Reliable.”

 

You wanted to confront Slim about his sad tone, but you couldn’t find it in yourself as you watched him open the front door and leave. A breeze from the outside blew in, rustling your over sized clothing, and even after Slim shut the door behind him you still felt the autumn chill from outside in your bones.

 

You suddenly felt very lonely.

 

“I’M DONE! OH, WHERE DID THE OTHERS GO?” Blue asked, popping his head into the living room from the kitchen. Logically you knew that it was most likely a rhetorical question, but you also felt compelled to answer.

 

“Papyrus went to go plan… battle scenarios? And Slim had some business to do. He didn’t say what, though.”

 

“PROBABLY TO BOTHER ANGIE ABOUT THE CHEESE - ALSO! I HOPE YOU DON’T MIND - I WAS CURIOUS SO I LISTENED IN ON YOUR CONVERSATION.”

 

Blunt.

 

“It’s… okay?” not like you were sharing personal information or anything. “You’re Blue, right? Stretch’s brother.”

 

He nodded his head, reaching out to shake your hand, although he did so in a much more gentle manner than Papyrus had. “RIGHT. I’M THE OLDER BROTHER, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING.”

 

Ouch. Did that sound a little defensive?

 

“Thanks… but, um, if you knew Slim was going to be so upset about the cheese, why didn’t you just get it yourself?” You asked. Surely Blue wasn’t afraid of this Angie, too?

 

“AH. I WOULD HAVE, ALAS, PAPYRUS WENT SHOPPING BY HIMSELF TODAY. I JUST GOT HOME FROM WORK IN TIME TO HELP HIM TAKE IN THE GROCERIES. HE’S PERFECTLY CAPABLE ON HIS OWN, YOU KNOW… A BIT OF A PUSHOVER AT TIMES, THOUGH... BUT…” Blue took your hand and lead you to sit on the closest couch, winking at you.

 

“I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU! TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF!”

 

You flustered. What was it with these skeletons and their genuineness that got you so worked up? The way that Blue was staring at you with those curious eye lights the color of his namesake… you almost didn’t mind enough to care.

 

“Well…” you gave him your name, but found yourself at a loss soon afterwards. “And, well, what else do you want to know?”

 

“HMM, YOU COULD START WITH… WELL… DRATS!… I HAVEN’T WELL…” Blue looked away, suddenly embarrassed as his skull flushed baby blue.

 

“I GUESS YOU COULD SAY IT’S BEEN AWHILE SINCE ANY OF US HAVE REALLY HAD A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE THAT ISN’T, WELL, OURSELVES! I’M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT TO ASK YOU?”

 

“That’s okay. I, uh, well, I’m a skeleton, which you knew..." From there you gave him a basic rundown of your likes and dislikes - despite the fact that you sounded so dull, Blue looked so interested in what you were saying you blushed constantly.

 

Laughing, you rubbed at your cheekbone with your knuckles as if you could scrub away the blush on your face. "And, um, ya... that's the basics. Feel like we know each other, yet?"

 

You were thinking much too hard about what to tell him. You suddenly felt very, very boring.

 

“I HAVE AROUND THE SAME KNOWLEDGE OF YOU AS IF I WAS SOMEONE WHOM YOU MET ONLINE AND WENT ON A SINGLE AWKWARD DATE WITH.”

 

Oof.

 

“SO FINE!” Sarcasm? Was that sarcasm? No, you don’t think Blue is the type to find that sort of thing funny…

 

Eventually, the two of you got more comfortable, and you even found yourself enjoying Blue’s random, deadpan comments that came out of nowhere - he seemed to appreciate it whenever you laughed or smiled at a particularly cringe-worthy one.

 

\----

“AND HE HASN’T TOUCHED A SINGLE GLASS OF MEAD SINCE!” Blue proudly finished his story, watching you in an amused manner as you tried to get your shit together.

 

_ Fuck _ . You weren’t going to be able to look at Stretch in the same way again.

 

“You - you’ve got some serious attic salt, you know that, right?” You gasped in between deep belly (if you had a belly) laughs.

 

“DON’T BE IN _ SALT _ ING, MY DEAR.” Blue retorted in what you could only assume was an impression of Slim, what with the high voice and condescending inflection… oops, that  _ actually _ sounded a little insulting, but...

 

Your laughing was renewed, and...

 

...You were starting to think that maybe you’ve found a second friend in this house, when -

 

\- At that exact moment two loud crashes were heard coming from somewhere in the house, although both seemed to take place in different parts - one from upstairs and one from a door off the kitchen.

 

“THAT MUST BE PAPY… HE’S ALWAYS CRASHING INTO THINGS WHEN HE TELEPORTS… HE WOULDN’T HAVE THIS PROBLEM IF HE CLEANED HIS ROOM!” Blue muttered, looking towards the stairs.

 

“... AND RED MUST BE IN HIS WORKSHOP.” Blue looked at you, concern shining in his eyelights as he implored, “IF YOU COULD, WOULD YOU PLEASE CHECK UP ON RED? SOMETIMES HE GETS… INTOXICATED AND MESSES AROUND WITH DANGEROUS TOOLS IN HIS WORKSHOP! I NEED TO CHECK ON PAPY!”

 

You saluted Blue before he turned away and were rewarded a goofy grin. Slim had asked you to inform Red that dinner was mandatory tonight, anyways. Although, you were slightly worried… Red often got drunk and messed around with tools?

 

It didn’t set well with you.

 

So you hurried into the kitchen and made a beeline for the door, opening it just in time to see where the crash came from as it repeated itself.

 

Red had dropped a wrench on a large piece of sheet metal, resulting in a loud crashing noise that caused sound waves to vibrate in your skull, probably causing your eye lights to quiver. You spotted a half empty bottle of something that looked strong on the counter next to him and were filled with an uncomfortable feeling.

 

“... Red?” You called, hoping to get the skeleton’s attention. Sure, you had thought that you were initially wrong about his scary appearance, but… monsters are unpredictable when they drink. Especially ones with scars like Red. You had plenty experience, though, and felt somewhat prepared if he decided to get violent - or he could just be a sad drunk, you've met plenty of those, too.

 

He looked up in a clumsy manner, obviously affected by the alcohol but not to the point where his eye lights had dulled… good, that meant he still had some reason in him.

 

“o-oh… hey, dolly. wa-was up?”

 

You stayed where you were.

 

“Your brother told me to tell you that it’s lasagna tonight. No skipping out.”

 

This information seemed to shock Red, who instantly groaned in an upset manner. 

 

“fuuuuck, man, i fergot… n’now ‘m all drunk’ an’ shiiiiiit he’s gonna be angry.”

 

Red moped for a bit, forgetting his fun ‘drop the wrench on the sheet metal’ game. It was at this point you deemed it safe enough to step closer, where you removed the wrench and alcohol from his immediate space and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder. 

 

"What happened?" You asked quietly. He was just here... you checked the phone he'd left on the counter... actually, it'd almost been two hours since you'd last seen him. Either way, it didn't seem like nearly enough time to come back in the state he was in.

 

"hm? i jus'... went by ricky's again an' got inna fight... wen'ta  _cool_ off at grillbz... heh, get it?  _cool_ off..." His voice was unsteady, as were his own eye lights. Your SOUL ached. In this moment he reminded you so much of how you'd find your brother - drunk or high off his skeleton ass as he rattled off some excuse for his condition. You were a little curious about 'Ricky's', though. Maybe you'd have to do some detective work.

 

"When did Grillby cut you off?" You had to physically force the emotion out of your voice. Red didn't deserve the rage you'd pent up in all the years of watching your brother destroy himself.

 

"'b-bout t-ten? ten drinnks, may'be... maybee more..." Damn. Ten or more drinks in the amount of time he'd been gone? He must have really been pounding them back. During the day, too.

 

At this point it was all you could do to just comfort and sober him up before his brother saw him. He'd seemed pretty in control of himself and his emotions earlier, but you knew from experience just what seeing your older brother in a state like Red's could do to even the most level headed people. “.... Just… try to sober up, okay? He still has to get the cheese from, um, Angie? I think…”

 

“oh.” he sounded somewhat relieved.

 

For the first time since entering the room, you scanned it, now that you didn’t have to worry about possibly violent drunk monsters.

 

Blue’s words seemed accurate; it appeared to be a regular mechanic workshop, with tools and engines and other bits and bobs scattered about. In the center, though, was something bit under a tarp. It went up to your shoulders.

 

You nudged Red a bit and pointed to the tarped object.

 

“Hey. What’s that?” you asked.

 

Red turned his head slightly, resting on his arms like a pillow. His eye sockets were lidded and his eye lights were getting brighter by the minute. Maybe it only took a bit for the alcohol to work its way out of his system? Or maybe he was just really proud of whatever it was under that tarp.

 

“‘s my motorcycle. been workin’ on it fer months… finally almost finished. can’t find a damn engine that’ll run what i need, though. prolly gonna hafta build one…”

 

You looked at the engines around the room. Had Red built any of these? All of them?

 

You felt the need to compliment him, but you held back at the risk of looking creepy. You knew stuff about engines, having not only an interest in physics and mechanics, but also with having Gaster as your mentor, although somehow this was on a different level.

 

“I’ll get you some water, then… maybe, you can you tell me about it?” you proposed, hoping the conversation would further sober Red up before dinner. It seemed to be working, since Red even sat up straight and nodded his head a bit.

 

“ya. ya. that might be good.”

 

You quickly popped into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, filling it with simple tap water and hurrying back into the workshop.

 

There Red had already uncovered the veil with a brush of magic, displaying the beautiful cherry red body of the bike and some other carefully crafted parts as he gratefully took the water from you, guzzling it down then starting to talk.

 

The way he spoke was animated, and you were definitely interested, however, you figured some timeline jetlag was going on since you were starting to feel your eye sockets droop. It couldn’t have been over six here, but over in your universe it was already well into the night…

 

Just listen to his low, rumbly and soothing voice for a little longer…

 

It was almost insane how much you trusted these monsters already - Red especially. He was silly and goofy and... something of a drunk. You knew it probably wasn't your place to try and change him, but you didn't want to see him go down the same route as your brother. 

At some point you'd learned in school that monsters were made up of love and compassion, which lead them to make deep emotional connections faster than humans, but you'd never believed it - with your childhood, you had trust issues galore, but it was starting to make sense, now.

 

And it was more than a little scary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh it's been forever since i've posted and i'm sooooo sorry!!
> 
> so you know how i said i'm not busy on thursdays? well, major schedule change, i am now super busy on thursdays and like every other day of the week...
> 
> so updates most likely on mondays or wednesdays!
> 
> you guys seriously give me motivation, so pls keep it up and i shall reward!! hope your january is as good as a january can be. i mean, it's january. (sorry if ur birthday is in jan-an)
> 
> thanks for being so patient and, wait... is that what i think it is? oh, it is!! 
> 
> FANART!
> 
>  
> 
> [hight chart!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182196234975/addicted-to-the-fic-for-goodness-sake-i-cant)
> 
> [chippy dippy!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/181827160700/here-is-a-cute-little-fan-art-i-did-for-deben-on)
> 
> [cute moments from chap 2 & more!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/181827215320/more-fanart-for-deben)
> 
> [different chips and cute moments!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182065036725/i-cant-seem-to-be-able-to-stop-myself-from)
> 
>  
> 
> and all of these beauties are from the sweet and amazing [@addicted-to-the-fic on tumblr!!](https://addicted-to-the-fic.tumblr.com/)
> 
> sending all my love!!


	5. dinner with friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .... a dinner with friends?

 

 

“doll? dooooolllll? c’mon, dolly, get up…”

 

You were roused by an almost completely sober Red (he was speaking normally again, but you could see the wobbly effect in his eye lights and he moved somewhat sluggishly), with your cheekbone stuck to a workbench and with heavy feeling eye sockets.

 

“Nnnn…. What?” You asked, bringing your too-long sleeves up to rub at your eye sockets. 

 

Oh, right. You’d been listening to Red talking about his bike when you must’ve koncked out sometime along when he’d started talking about the finishing paint job he wanted when it was finished...

 

“Oh. Sorry I fell asleep, man, i’m just really - “ you yawned loudly, sockets blurring with magical lavender tears, “tired…”

 

Red chuckled at your display, shaking your shoulder with one of his large hands to further wake you up.

 

“no problemo, dolly, jus’ wan’ned ya t’be awake fer boss’ lasagna.”

 

He leaned in a little, expression seriously, “though maybe it would ‘ave been better t’let you sleep through it…” he shrugged, “but i dun’ think boss’d be very happy.”

 

Red winked, grinning that predatory grin that only he seemed capable of giving you, “he seems t’like you…”

 

“He’s, y’know, pretty cool himself, I guess.” You responded, standing on wobbly legs. Seems they haven’t got the memo that you’re awake yet.

 

“the coolest. c’mon, dolly, let’s getcha t’the kitchen.”

 

You took Red’s offered hand, allowing him to lead you into the kitchen where Slim was pacing, apparently preparing the final details of his masterpiece before sending it out.

 

His skull whipped around to you and Red’s direction and his sockets narrowed dangerously. 

 

B-but, you couldn’t really take his glare seriously since he was, you know,

 

Wearing

 

A ‘kiss the cook’ apron

 

And

 

A traditional puffy chef’s hat.

 

He waved a spatula at the two of you (does lasagna require a spatula?) and pointed to the dining room with his free hand, “There You Two Are! Honestly, Even Vanilla Managed To Show Up Before You!”

 

He turned his glare to you, “In This House, We  Are Not Late . Do You Hear Me?”

 

You frantically nodded your skull so hard you feared it might pop off your vertebrae, and sighed in relief when he turned his ire to Red.

 

“And You… Brother, You KNOW The House Rules. I’m Only Being Lenient Due To Present Company… I WILL NOT Be So Merciful In The Future…”

 

He watched as the two of you scampered towards the dining room, sharing twin looks of amusement when his attention was no longer on you.

 

Even though he’d yelled at you… you don’t feel scolded?? Still, though, you inquired about his behavior to Red.

 

“Is it just me or does he seem a bit more irritated than usual?” You whispered to Red.

 

“”sagna night stresses him out a bit. sum type’a performance anxiety. won’t admit it, though.” He told you. 

 

“ah, hey kiddo.” Sans greeted you as you and Red walked in, lazily waving a skeletal hand. “heard you were in the workshop with red…” his eye lights grazed over the taller skeleton before returning to you, “sent ‘pyrus up t’get you, but he said you weren’t there…” you felt like there was a question there, but didn’t know what it was or how to answer it. He shrugged

 

Red stuck his red magical tongue out childishly at Sans with a tiny glare and took what you presumed was his regular seat - but you were at a bit of a loss…

 

Where should you sit?

 

There was only one seat open… one seat that you had a sneaking suspicion was Slim’s…

 

You caught Red’s eyelights, which were now sparkling in a mirthful manner as he grinned at you and patted his femur. “c’mon, dolly, got a seat fer ya right here ~”

 

Right. Even though he was mostly sober, he’d still been piss drunk sometime ago.

 

Both Sans and Blue gave him a glare - comically alike, to which Red responded with an exasperated sigh. “but there ain’t no other seat open.” he pouted, still managing to give you a grin from the corner of his eye socket.

 

“THAT!! IS NO REASON!! TO BE SO - SO - SO - “ Uh oh, Blue looked like he was really getting worked up. It was kind of cute, actually… he was getting all blue in the face with puffy cheeks… you could see why someone might mistake him for the younger brother.

 

“CRASS!!” Papyrus cut in, seemingly indifferent to his brother’s counterpart’s anger.

 

Blue’s continued glare at Red spoke volumes about choice vocabulary he might have used, himself.

 

Blue turned to you, next, but with a sweet expression. “I APOLOGIZE FOR RED’S RUDENESS… NOW, I DON’T MIND SHAR-”

 

“you could sit with me, chippy.” Stretched drawled, having already scooted to one end of the seat. He patted the space next to you.

 

Oh, ya, that could work! Your smallness combined with how lanky Stretch was made you the perfect seat partners!

 

You didn’t see Blue’s put out expression.

 

You did, however, hear Sans chuckle and say, “maybe next time, babyblue,” knowing he wouldn’t scold his baby brother like he had Red for simply stealing his opportunity to sit with you.

 

“DON’T CALL ME BABYBLUE…” Blue muttered.

 

Sans chuckled again, turning towards his brother, but his eye lights were on Blue “hey, bro, maybe you should go shoppin’ for a new table whenever you take chip ‘ere out furniture shoppin’?” he offered, tapping an idle tune out on the wood surface of the table.

 

“THAT!! IS A VERY COOL IDEA! WHAT DO YOU THINK, CHIP?” Papyrus seemed eager to hear your response, practically vibrating in his seat. He also seemed eager to use your nickname.. cute.

 

“OH! AND BLUE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME ALONG,TOO? I KNOW WHAT A KEEN EYE FOR DESIGN YOU HAVE!”

 

Blue perked up slightly, “YA, OKAY. MAYBE WE CAN GO ON SATURDAY - AFTER TOMORROW!”

 

Ahh. You see Sans’ aim. It was sweet of him to think about Blue’s feelings...

 

“I need new clothes, too. Can we look for those first?” You cut in. You could live with bland furniture, however wearing the same clothes over and over again… not happening.

 

“WONDERFUL IDEA!” Blue and Papyrus exclaimed at the same time.

 

“hey, kiddo..”

 

“chip...”

 

“dolly…”

 

Stretch, Red and Sans all said at the same time, “ **mind if we join** ?”

 

That level of synchrony… was almost scary.

 

“I think that might be… a little crowded? Is it okay if just Blue and Papyrus go with me?” You felt kind of bad... you didn’t really want to exclude them, but it seemed like going out for clothes  _ and _ furniture might take a long time.

 

The three of them didn’t seem to put out, though, thankfully - just a little resigned.

 

“‘s fine, kiddo. ‘m sure some lazy bones like us would only drag the mood down.” Sans sighed.

 

O-oh no! That’s so sad!

 

“That’s not true at all! I’m sure you’re super fun!” You told him. 

 

The skeleton in question flushed a deep blue around his cheekbones as he chuckled nervously. “heh heh heh… ‘kay, kid.” he mumbled.

 

Stretch, apparently feeling neglected, decided to drape his arm across the back of your shared seat. “i could show you sum pretty fun stuff…”

 

“PAPY!!” Blue skwaked, surprised at his brother. “I EXPECT THIS FROM RED, BUT FROM  _ YOU _ ?”

 

Stretch at least had the decency to look ashamed, dropping his arm and flushing orange.

 

“s-sorry, bro… an’ chip...” he’d only added that last part when Blue’s scolding gaze remained on him.

 

Slim entered not a moment late and slammed the tray of lasagna on the table.

 

“Enough!! Of This Chatter! Time For Lasagna!”

 

There was a chorus of ‘thank yous’ from around the table, so you chimed in with your own thanks, ready to eat.

 

The only thing you’d had since getting here was that awful spaghetti…

 

… Slim didn’t make that spaghetti, did he?

 

You caught Sans’ gaze from across the table, noticing his slightly nervous expression.

 

Oh stars. Oh stars above.

 

Slim plopped a serving on a plate he’d gotten just for you - which made you slightly flustered at his thoughtfulness before you realized this was likely going to be your last meal with magical tastebuds intact.

 

You felt Stretch lean down, his mandible just barely scraping the top of your skull.

 

“don’t worry, chip, we’ll getcha some real food after all o’ this…” you nodded slightly, not wanting to tip Slim off about the direction of your conversation.

 

Once Slim sat, everyone began to dig in - Papyrus and Blue with much less hesitation than the rest of the table.

 

Out of the corner of your eye you saw Red open his giant maw and slide the entire slice of lasagna into his mouth.

 

“Brother!!” Uh Oh. Looks like Red’s in for another scolding.

 

“You! Didn’t! Even! Have Any Salad!! Are You Trying To Give Yourself An Early Death?!”

 

Red’s nervous laugh and both Papyrus and Blue’s looks at their own brothers had all three of their brothers reaching for the leafy greens in a separate bowl. Luckily you’d had some foresight to grab some salad and were therefore spared from the lectures of Blue, Slim and Papyrus.

 

You picked at your salad first, but were then left with the lasagna that had something suspiciously glitter in the sauce that didn’t look like glitter…

 

… Glass?!

 

Good thing magic could digest just about anything… at this point you were thinking that maybe Red had the right idea about how to eat this.

 

You decided to take it slow, making conversation in between excruciating bites.

 

You learned about where each of the skeletons worked (Sans had a mysterious job he wouldn’t talk about, Red put together renovated and custom motorcycles with the occasional car, Stretch was a novelist, Papyrus taught self defense, Blue worked as a personal trainer and Slim was in school to become an architect)

 

When you asked Slim about why he chose a career that took a long time to enter when he was only here temporarily, he gave you a small shrug. 

 

“At First I Didn’t Care About Doing Anything In This Stupid Place - I Just Wanted To Go Back To Where I Was Captain Of The Royal Guard… But… I Guess While I’m In This Pansy Universe I Might As Well Enjoy How Stupidly Pacificistic It Is And Explore Some Of My Interests!”

 

“That’s nice..”

 

“I AM  _ NOT _ GOING SOFT!” He exclaimed, glaring at you once again.

 

“I didn’t say you were??”

 

“dun’ worry about him,” Sans cut in, catching your eye, “‘s just that a  _ certain _ tiny tyrant keeps teasin’ him ‘bout it..”

 

“I Do NOT Care About What  _ He _ Has To Say About It!!”

 

Stretch leaned down again, whispering something to you.

 

“he definitely cares.”

 

You snorted, almost spitting out your last bite of lasagna.

 

“IT’S OKAY, SLIM! AS YOUR FRIEND I COMPLETELY SUPPORT YOUR DECISION TO EXPLORE YOUR INTERESTS. I, MYSELF, AM ACTUALLY CONSIDERING TAKING SOME CULINARY COURSES!”

 

Slim grumbled, cheekbones covered in a fiery orange as Papyrus continued.

 

“I WANT TO EXPAND MY CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF PASTA… RIGHT NOW I’M FOCUSING ON PERFECTING SPAGHETTI!! WHICH ALSO HAPPENS TO BE MY FAVORITE FOOD, SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND MY EXCITEMENT!”

 

“right,” Sans added, “and it’s almost edible for humans.”

 

“YUP!!”

 

You looked on in horror, much to Sans’ amusement.

 

_ He _ made that spaghetti?

 

Could ANY of these guys cook?!

 

Sensing the need for a change in topic for your own sanity, you turned to Blue.

 

“What about you, are you thinking of studying anything?”

 

To your surprise, Blue shook his head no. “ACTUALLY I ALREADY HAVE SOME DEGREES BACK IN MY UNIVERSE, I JUST DON’T USE THEM… REALLY, I JUST WANT TO ENJOY THE SURFACE WITH SOME FLEXIBLE HOURS SO I CAN FOCUS ON HOBBIES! SINCE THERE’S SO MANY OF US, RENT IS PRETTY CHEAP - I DON’T HAVE TO WORK A LOT. NONE OF US DO!”

 

“Wow. So I guess this is where I ask about rent, huh?”

 

Sans shrugged lazily, “‘s optional. we dun’ really need the money.”

 

“Okay, but if I want to?”

 

Sans replied with an unrealistically low number.

 

“No?? Way?? That’s not true??”

 

“well it’s even lower if we got a sixth person chippin’ in. or you could just do what slim is doin’ - goin’ t’school and payin’ off his own loans instead.”

 

“W-well, maybe… I used to teach high school physics and I’ll need to get some credentials if I want to do that here, too.”

 

You honestly missed your students back in your universe - you’d dabbled in the sciences when Gaster was still around, but after that you’d been kind of lost. Getting a teaching degree hadn’t been difficult, and both the staff and students (aside from one or two bad apples - teachers and students alike) had helped you get out of the emotional slump you’d been in.

 

“OH! MS. TORI CAN CLEAR THAT UP FOR YOU!” Papyrus said, “SHE CAN ASK KING ASGORE TO GET YOUR CREDENTIALS CERTIFIED UP HERE - IT’S A THING WE WORKED OUT WITH THE HUMAN GOVERNMENT SO WE DIDN’T HAVE TO REPEAT SCHOOL ALL OVER AGAIN! YOU MIGHT HAVE TO TAKE A TEST OR TWO, THOUGH…”

 

“That sounds really nice, actually!”

 

“YES, AND MAYBE YOU COULD TEACH AT LADY TORIEL’S SCHOOL, AS WELL! I’M SURE SHE’D LOVE TO HAVE SOMEONE AS NICE AND SMART AS YOURSELF TEACHING THERE!” Blue said.

 

W-was that a flirt?

 

No, no, of course not… just a genuine compliment.

 

\------

 

After you’d helped clean up (although Blue and Papyrus didn’t want you to clean on your first day here), you’d bid Blue, Slim and Papyrus goodnight. Both Papyrus and Blue had work in the morning and Slim had an early class.

 

Which left you with the other three.

 

Conveniently, while you’d been helping wash dishes, Sans had stepped out to grab some ‘real’ food.

 

Grillby’s.

 

“Oh! I love his food! Me and Gast…” You paused, “my mentor and I used to eat there all the time…”

 

“nice to hear ol’ grillbz had a  _ burning _ passion for cookin’ even in you’re weird universe.” Sans joked, dividing up the goods between you, Stretch and Red.

 

Red laughed, “‘n  _ my _ universe he was sumthin’ of a  _ hot head _ .”

 

Turning to you, Stretch contributed, “in mine, muffet’s was the  _ hot _ eatery in town.”

 

It was a pun filled night.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeyyyy guys!! it really makes me happy when i'm able to post consistently and since i'm planning (hoping) to have this out tomorrow (writing this on sunday), i'm in a good mood!
> 
> you guys are so sweet when you comment, so please keep it up!
> 
> aannnndddd....
> 
> [@addicted-to-the-fic](https://addicted-to-the-fic.tumblr.com/) made more fanart!!! i'm seriously in love guys!!
> 
>    
> [a bunch of drawings of chip and the boys!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182201252890/addicted-to-the-fic-more-of-the-little-chip)  
>  
> 
> [chip & papyrus & blue <3!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182343374635/addicted-to-the-fic-look-at-these-bois-and)
> 
>  
> 
> [moments from chap. 4 and other cute things!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182352222995/addicted-to-the-fic-ok-here-be-more-fanart-for)


	6. shopping start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> blue and papyrus take you on that shopping trip that's been talked about for at least 4 chapters now.
> 
> ...
> 
> also, does something seem a little off with blue to you?

 

 

It was a stressful two days for you.

 

At night constant nightmares plagued your sleep, presumably from sleeping in an unfamiliar location, causing you to be tired almost all the time.

 

During the day you were busy talking things over on the phone with the queen and king about citizenship, scheduling appointments and answering vague questions.

 

“I’m afraid it’s a rather long process to get citizenship so long after the barrier is broken, my child…” Toriel sighed from the other side of the phone.

 

So far you’d only talked to her over the phone, which to you was a miracle in itself - she and her husband had been rulers in your universe, too, although it was over a thousand years ago - you could scarcely believe the figures in your  _ history books _ where's still roaming around.

 

Not only did they have more kids, ending their immortality, but your timeline was also several decades ahead from this one.

 

Their descendents still held the throne, though. Currently in your universe their granddaughter - Queen Solis - was ruling.

 

“Don’t worry, though - the process may be tedious, but it’s rather simple. It should only take a few weeks until you get your green card!” She reassured you.

 

You knew you were lucky it only took a few weeks - some monsters had remained underground, apparently, and were excluded from having to become citizens. In the case that these monsters wanted to ascend above ground to the surface, the king and queen had the ability to grant citizenship to monsters.

 

After they completed government mandatory learning programs and tests, that is.

 

She told you that you would have to complete a week long course over human biology and culture, have your states and magical abilities monitored and catalogued and meet with a state appointed psychologist to determine your state of mind.

 

You thanked Toriel for the run down before ending the call even though Asgore had already given you along the same information, “stay determined!”, he’d told you.

 

The entire ordeal had you down, especially combined with the lack of sleep.

 

It wasn’t that you were afraid you wouldn’t be able to pass any classes - on the contrary, you’d learned all about humans in school (you weren’t looking forward to the reproduction part…), and from what you could tell culture wasn’t too different here from the surface in your universe.

 

Aside from some weird traditions and holidays humans had made up when they forgot monsters existed in this timeline. That Halloween thing Papyrus had mentioned? Oof.

 

But…

 

The reality was starting to set in.

 

Not completely, you’d yet to feel the cold grip of reality reminding that you might never see your home again or that you’d never be able to talk to the kids again - the ones who relied on you to keep them on the right track - !

 

“CHIP!” You heard Blue call from down the stairs.

 

You called out a noise of acknowledgement so he knew you’d heard him while hurrying downstairs, just managing to remember to put on some slippers first.

 

If you’d had lungs you might have been out of breath by the time you reached the first floor, but as a skeleton you were mostly unphased by your sudden bout of activity. Although your magic was a bit swirly in your head at the sudden shift from inactivity to running down stairs…

 

Most of the house had taken to calling you ‘Chip’ besides Sans, Red and Slim, who all had their own nicknames assigned for you.

 

While Sans sometimes addressed you by Chip, he was more likely to call you ‘kid’ or ‘kiddo’, Slim mostly called you by your given name or some creative adjectives in front of skeleton (the adjectives weren’t always or even often mean - sometimes they were just odd. You’d been called a ‘miniature pacifistic war skeleton’ before. Although sometimes when he was distracted he’d punctuate his sentence with ‘my dear’ like he had on that first day…)

 

And Red? He’d stuck with ‘dolly’.

 

When you spotted Blue his back was turned towards you, gathering something his arms. You stepped closer to get a look, and were shocked when he turned 180 abruptly, and were suddenly face to chin with him.

 

A little discouraging since Blue was the shortest of the other skeletons in he house and he was still that much taller than you…

 

You looked up to see that his face was coated with his light blue magic, almost lighting his skull up to look like a light bulb.

 

You both quickly took a step back from each other, looking away from embarrassment.

 

Deciding not to mention it (besides - your skull was likely the same, anyways…), you cleared your non existent throat.

 

“Yes, Blue? Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

 

“OH, WELL, UM, YES ACTUALLY - “ He coughed slightly, presenting you with the bundle that was in his arms, “I WASHED YOUR CLOTHES FOR YOU - WE’RE GOING SHOPPING TODAY, REMEMBER?”

 

You took the clothes from him, still slightly flustered and nodded your skull. “Thanks! I was actually wondering when you and Papyrus wanted to head out - I’ll only take a bit to shower and prepare.”

 

“PAPYRUS SHOULD BE GETTING HOME ANY MINUTE FROM TRAINING WITH UNDYNE! YOU SHOULD GET READY NOW IF WE WANT TO LEAVE BY TEN!” Blue informed you.

 

“Ya, okay, I’ll, um, get to it then…”

 

You turned back around to head up the stairs (you were currently sharing a bathroom with Sans and Stretch - not the cleanest monsters, but you’d make due), when a gloved hand on your shoulder startled you.

 

When you looked back Blue was giving you an embarrassed look.

 

“BEFORE I FORGET! I FOUND A PIECE OF PAPER IN YOUR POCKET BEFORE I PUT YOUR CLOTHES IN THE WASH - HERE!”

 

Blue handed you the paper. It was slightly yellowed and worn at the edges, but you recognized it instantly.

 

You snatched it up almost rudley, afterwards apologizing.

 

“I forgot I’d had it with me…” you said by way of explanation, unfolding the paper.

 

It was a picture of you, your brother and your grandma sitting on the couch in her apartment.

 

To your left was your brother and on your right was your grandmother. It was something of an odd scene since your brother and you were skeleton monsters while your grandma was a human.

 

She had light mocha skin and white hair that fell in a large curly mass to her shoulders. On her face were her favorite red reading glasses that were smudged to hell and hiding her eyes which you knew to be a dark chestnut color.

 

In the picture you were around six years old, your brother a lanky teen of fifteen years and your grandmother in her early seventies, if you were correct.

 

Human age slightly confused you.

 

But then again, you’d had much experience with humans of all ages other than your grandma in your youth and as a teacher.

 

You gently traced her face with a phalanx, next outlining your brother, Cambria, or Cam for short.

 

“IS THAT YOU?” Blue asked, leaning over your shoulder to look at the picture.

 

“Yup,” you replied, pointing to yourself, your brother then your grandma.” This is me, that’s my brother, Cam and next is my Grandma Carly - short for Clarissa.”

 

“WOW! I NEVER KNEW YOU HAD A BROTHER!”

 

“Mhm, he’s fifteen - nine years older than me - in this picture. Today he’d be around, hmm… fifty one!”

 

“WHAT ABOUT YOUR GRANDMA? I KNEW MONSTERS WERE ON THE SURFACE IN YOUR TIMELINE BUT I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE RELATED TO A REAL HUMAN!” He seemed amazed that you’d not only made friends with humans - but were part one yourself!

 

“Oh, well, it’s not by blood - she’s the mother of my dad. He didn’t actually contribute any DNA to my brother or I - my mom made us all by herself. They were still bonded, though.”

 

“OH. IT’S STILL VERY COOL!”

 

You smiled at Blue, folding the picture back up and putting it on top of your stack of clothing. “Thanks, Blue. I only wish I’d gotten to know him. The thing about humans is that they’re kind of… fragile, even if they don’t like to think so...”

 

Your SOUL ached at the thought of a family you’d never known.

 

When you were only a year old your father had gotten in a work related accident and died in the hospital. 

 

Your mother had always known that she’d die early, being bonded to a human mate and all, but it seemed as though fate was even crueler because her SOUL had cracked when his had disintegrated.

 

Of course it took a month or two for her SOUL to break completely while she grieved the bond - she’d had to hand you and your ten year old brother over to your grandmother since she couldn’t even take care of herself in the state she was in.

 

It haunted your brother.

 

He remembered.

 

Blue seemed to catch on to your line of thought.

 

“THEY MUST HAVE… THEY MUST HAVE LOVED EACH OTHER VERY MUCH!” His hand on your shoulder felt heavier than lead and colder than ice.

 

It wasn’t his fault though, you shouldn’t have brought it up - now you were just sad. Thoughts of your grandmother and brother plagued your thoughts.

 

“T-Thanks…” You sniffled slightly. No! You couldn’t cry… you could tell just by looking at him that Blue was a sympathetic crier…

 

After a few moments of trying to get yourself back under control, you looked up at Blue, “Sorry about that - It was a long time ago! I normally wouldn’t even cry, but, well, I’ve been stressed as of lately. Guess I just bottled all of it up…”

 

“THERE’S NO NEED TO BE SORRY! I’LL ALWAYS BE HERE AS A COLLAR BONE TO CRY ON!”

 

“Thanks, Blue… That really means a lot to me...”

 

“OH. AND, UM, WELL - I KNOW YOU’RE SHARING A BATHROOM WITH MY SLOB OF A BROTHER AND THIS UNIVERSE’S SANS, SO I WANT TO OFFER YOU THE OPTION TO USE PAPYRUS AND I’S SHOWER!”

 

“That’d be great, actually!” you leaned in closer to Blue, as if to tell a secret, “I don’t know what they do in there but there are ketchup stains on the ceiling and honey on the floor. I nearly stepped in some with the only pair of socks I have…”

 

Blue looked at you, shocked, and for a moment you’d thought maybe the story of their filth had put him into a catatonic state when Blue suddenly got a stern expression on his face.

 

“ _ THAT’S _ WHERE HE’S BEEN KEEPING HIS STASH! THAT SLIPPERY SNAIL KNEW I WOULDN’T DARE ENTIRE HIS DOMAIN OF DISGUST!”

 

You then watched as Blue marched up the stairs, presumably to raid Stretch’s (and by extension, Sans’ secret supply) of condiments.

 

You yourself headed towards the bathroom that connected Blue and Papyrus’ rooms, which was as he’d promised - completely filth free.

 

You were almost afraid that  _ you’d _ make it dirty.

 

You were reminded on the photo when you saw its worn edge poking out of your clothes, and quickly stashed it in Blues room - hoping he wouldn’t mind - so it wasn’t damaged by the steam from the shower.

 

While showers were normally calming for you though, this one was tense as you were running through memories of your brother.

 

For the longest time you’d wanted nothing to do with him, but you’d tried to reach out after your mentor disappeared and you felt alone.

 

By what all means should have been a joyous and light hearted reunion - perhaps dampened by the circumstances - was still tainted by what he’d told you.

 

Alley Dust.

 

Alley Dust Alley Dust Alley Dust Alley Dust

 

**AlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDustAlleyDust.**

 

…

..

. 

 

_ “Thanks for visiting, I know I messed up, I know you said you’d never visit… but you did. It means a lot. You almost had me worried you’d became someone’s  _ **_Alley Dust_ ** _.” _

 

_. _

_.. _

_ … _

 

\-----

 

“I  _ promise _ , Blue, I’ll ride with you on your motorcycle sometime, okay?”

 

The skeleton in question was pouting (“NOT POUTING!”) because you’d taken Papyrus’ offer to drive his car there (a beautiful red sports car that probably costs more than your life with  _ heated leather seats _ ), despite Blue also offering to take you on his motorcycle.

 

“A car is more practical,” you’d explained to him, “we’re going shopping. Plus, I wouldn’t want to make Papyrus drive all by himself!”

 

“I GUESS… I’M HOLDING YOU TO THAT, THOUGH!”

 

“Okay, it’s a date, then!”

 

He was silent for the rest of the ride, skull bright blue. Papyrus, however, chattered almost endlessly. Not that you minded.

 

“I’M SO GLAD THAT YOU GET TO TAKE A RIDE IN MY AWESOME CAR! I ALWAYS WANTED ONE WHEN I WAS UNDERGROUND! I EVEN HAVE A BED SHAPED LIKE MY CAR  - IT’S NOT MY ORIGINAL, I BUILT THE KNEW ONE TO LOOK JUST LIKE IT!”

 

“You do carpentry, Papyrus?” You asked, surprised.

 

“YES! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS A MASTER OF ALL THINGS THAT HAVE TO DO WITH WORKING WITH TOOLS! I EVEN HELPED BLUE CONSTRUCT HIS BED - IT’S SHAPED LIKE A SPACESHIP!”

 

“That’s pretty ambitious!” You commented.

 

You must have missed Blue’s Bed when you put the picture in his room, the lights had been off, after all.

 

Which reminded you that you left the photo in his room.

 

Guess you were going to have to go back for it.

 

\-----

 

The first store you stopped at was for clothing, per your request (you were wearing the clothes from when you’d been transported to this universe currently, and they were clean, but before that you’d worn the same sweats for days… at least you hadn’t needed to leave the house…), which had both Papyrus and Blue psyched.

 

“WE’RE GOING TO MAKE YOU THE CUTEST SKELETON AROUND!” Papyrus had told you.

 

Currently they were dragging your around, trying to find clothes that would fit you.

 

“...AND THIS ONE!” Blue exclaimed, throwing a light blue cropped halter top at you. He’d been rifling quickly through the racks and throwing anything he remotely liked at you.

 

You looked down at the top, examining it thoroughly.

 

…. It’s actually kind of cute?

 

Papyrus meanwhile has been carefully selecting each clothing item and showing it to you, holding it up next to you for reference and holding each of his finds in his arms.

 

When you were holding about twenty outfits that Blue had thrown at you and Papyrus’ arms were looking full, you decided to stop the skeletons, “Hey, um, guys - all of this stuff is nice and pretty, but I’m also gonna need some professional clothes if I want to work…”

 

You’d meant it as a hint to put some of the clothes they’d already chosen away, and pick some more practical outfits, but instead they were just searching for even more clothes.

 

You’d gotten Blue to hold his finds with his magic while you went looking for some undergarments.

 

Like underwear, bras and …. Socks.

 

It was pretty quick since you didn’t need anything super fancy (you still wanted nice things, though), and you only needed a few bras - you didn’t summon your body very often, so they were mostly useless unless you felt inclined to summon your body.

 

You discreetly paid for them yourself while Blue and Papyrus were occupied, using the lodge card Sans had lent you to use until you got a job.

 

Originally you’d been against using his money, but he’d been pretty chill about it when he told you that it was fine, while Red was rather adamant - “you deserve th’best, dolly. it’ll help ya adjust.” 

 

He was kind of very sweet.

 

When you found your skeletal companions again, they were standing by two mountains of clothes next to the changing stalls.

 

“HELLO, CHIP! AS YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED, BLUE AND I HAVE ORGANIZED THE CLOTHES FOR YOU TO TRY ON IN TWO PILES - ‘PROFESSIONAL WORKING WOMAN SKELETON’ AND ‘BONE TO BE CHIC!”

 

A pun?

…

 

Which lead you to where you were now - you were done with trying on the practical outfits, and ready to move on to ‘Bone to be Chic’ but you were stuck on this one top, the first you were planning to try on.

 

It was the halter top that Blue had thrown at you early on in the shopping trip.

 

And you kind of  _ really really  _ wanted it.

 

But it had a tie in the back that you had undone since you didn’t anticipate it being so hard to re tie, but here you were, after five minutes of failed attempts, ready to call it quits.

 

… Well, maybe you could ask for some help?

 

“Blue? Paps?” You called out, nervously biting the area under your mouth like it was a bottom lip.

 

You don’t know why you were so anxious - you had pants on and it wasn’t like rib cages were super lewd.

 

There really wasn’t any difference in attitude between female and male rib cages; all skeletons were born with varying bodies, and gender was chosen by the individual.

 

Not even that there even were ‘female’ or ‘male’ skeletons by body type. There were a variety types of bodies skeletons could commonly possess, and none were tied in with gender.

 

It really had more to do with how skeletons reproduce, which can be ‘sexually’ but also asexually. In reality, the process had nothing to do with sex.

 

Instead of gender, the you just had common body types that either made it more favorable to reproduce or less - 

 

For example, skeletons have anywhere from seven to fourteen sets of ribs and zero to three sets of floating ribs. More ribs was obviously favorable for snapping off to make a kid, and hip width for carrying it, but the amount of magic one had also factored into the process.

 

More magic = more favorable, less magic meant less favorable.

 

You yourself only had six pairs of ‘true’ ribs and one set of floating ribs. Almost as if to make up for this, you were born with an insane amount of magic. 

 

You’d never learned to make attacks, but it did help you from getting unnecessarily tired from using what magic you did know.

 

Plus it made you more susceptible to magic illnesses, and your heats way way  _ way  _ worse.

 

So ya. Nothing too awful asking Papyrus to come in and help you tie the shirt.

 

Nope. Not unless he stuck his hand through your ribs or touched them. Which Papyrus definitely wouldn’t do.

 

“YES?” Papyrus called back.

 

You didn’t hear Blue.

 

“OH, HE’S ON THE PHONE OUTSIDE - I THINK IT HAS TO DO WITH A COSTUME HE’S ORDERING!” Papyrus told you, almost as if he’d known what you were thinking.

 

Costume? Is he going to be in a play or something? Or that halloween thing they’d been trying to tell you about?

 

“Okay, well, um, I’m having a hard time tying this shirt in the back - can you help me?” You asked.

 

“OF COURSE! I’M ALL ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE!”

 

You let him in and were only slightly embarrassed that he was seeing you without a shirt.

 

After all… the last person who’d seen your bare ribs was probably…

 

No.

 

You’d already been thinking about Cambria too much, you couldn’t start thinking about her, too.

 

You picked the top up from the floor where you’d thrown it in a fit of frustration, and wiggled it back on.

 

There was nothing particularly dirty about ribs, but Papyrus’ sad stare…

 

You knew you weren’t in the best shape, and it wasn’t just your skull.

 

“HERE, I’LL TAKE MY GLOVES OFF SO IT’S EASIER TO TIE!”

 

Watching Papyrus slowly slide of his red gloves, you were surprised and horrified to see a perfectly circular hole in Papyrus’ hand.

 

It was smooth on the inside - obviously done purposely. Who would hurt Papyrus, and in such an awful way?

 

“IT’S OKAY!” Papyrus said, as if sensing your thoughts yet again, “WE ALL HAVE OUR SCARS! EVEN IF SOME AREN’T AS OBVIOUS AS SLIM’S, RED’S OR EVEN YOURS!.. WILL YOU… TELL ME ABOUT YOURS?”

 

“My ribs?” you asked, remembering the soft gasp he’d let out when he saw the large scar running along your ribs.

 

He nodded his skull uncertainty, “ONLY IF YOU’RE OKAY WITH IT!”

 

You were glad that Papyrus took your privacy so seriously, but you weren’t as reluctant to talk about your ribs as you were your mental scars or even your eye socket. The truth about the biggest scar on your ribs wasn’t a consequence of where you grew up or even your brother’s mistakes.

 

“Well, uh, okay, Paps. Most of the tiny chips and scars are just from a, uh, rough time I had when I was younger, b-but the biggest one isn’t anything  _ bad. _ .” You’d seen him stare at a large chip that started on your second left rib and went down to the bottom sixth (your floating ribs were less scarred due to them being more naturally soft and malleable.)

 

“I used to watch cartoons all the time when I was a kid, and there was this one commercial for a cereal, I think - well, the mascot was a cartoon skeleton, and he’d play with little mallets on his rib cage like a xylophone, and me being seven thought it was the coolest thing in the world, so I tried it out - “

 

You laughed a little. At the moment it hadn’t been very funny, but you could appreciate your dumb kid antics now that it was all over, “so I took the wooden spoon from the kitchen and tried to replicate the commercial,  _ but- _ ”

 

You threw a significant look at Papyrus,

 

“I don’t think I need to tell you that our bones  _ do not _ make that sound, no matter how hard you hit them. My grandma freaked and my brother had to take me to the ER because I was leaking marrow.”

 

Papyrus cringed at the story, but looked less concerned.

 

“OH GOOD… I MEAN, NOT GOOD - YOU WERE IN A LOT OF PAIN, BUT FOR A SECOND I THOUGHT SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE DONE THAT... TO YOU…”

 

When Papyrus was done, you admired your reflection in the mirror, noticing that he was slipping his gloves back on.

 

“YOU LOOK LOVELY, CHIP!”

 

“Thanks, Paps, but if you don’t mind… how did  _ you _ get your scar?”

 

He looked disturbed for a second, and you were about to tell him he didn’t need to say, but he started speaking before you could.

 

“... I Can’t… I Can’t Remember…”

 

His tone nearly tore apart your SOUL.

 

“But… BUT IT’S FINE, SINCE UNDYNE SAYS SCARS ARE VERY COOL, AND WHATEVER HAPPENED, IT DOESN'T STILL BOTHER ME! IT JUST KIND OF TICKLES NOW…”

 

You looked back and hugged Papyrus, throwing your arms over as much of him as you could reach.

 

“You’re the coolest, Paps…”

 

“NYEH HEH HEH, I KNOW!”

 

\-----

 

When Blue got back, you showed him the top, which he was ecstatic to hear you wanted to keep, and insisted on taking a picture.

 

Your agreement had been reluctant at first, having only caved after seeing the pouty expressions the boys wore when you rejected the idea, but only a few outfits in, you found yourself having fun!

 

To help even more with your uncertainty, the boys posed with you in every single photo, too, resulting in some pretty amusing selfies.

 

As much fun as you were having, you ended up actually rejecting many clothes since they weren’t your style or really practical (mostly Blue’s, which you felt bad about, but he really only chose mostly light blue clothes that were admittedly very cute, but also meant for perhaps hotter weather),

 

Even so, Blue and Papyrus were supportive - especially Blue, when you mentioned your hesitance at rejecting clothes that he’d specifically picked out - “YOU GAVE IT A TRY!! THAT’S ALL I NEED!”

 

… Then Papyrus had told you he’d sent the photos he’d taken to his brother, and Blue admitted to doing the same.

 

At first you’d been embarrassed (you made some really funny faces in a few!), but they assured you that their brothers wouldn’t tease you.

 

And, well, you did believe them. Their brothers were much to chill to really care too much.

 

Your were just glad neither Slim nor Red had the photos.

 

Slim would  _ probably _ be polite about it but in a condescending manner that implied the thought your photos were subpar to his own physique (the “Quintessence Of Perfection”), and Red...

 

Well, you knew how Red was. He was sweet, but something of a lecher as you had seen so far. You don’t want to think about what he might do with some of the more risque photos.

 

Afterwards, you’d bought the clothes you decided on keeping (keeping it closer to around ten-something tops and a few pairs of jeans, shorts and skirts - and one or two sundresses, along with some of your professional clothes - still much more than what you’d ever owned before), you’d gone to a hardware store to look at paints for your room and curtains.

 

You ended up with a paint color that resembled the color of your magic and flowy white curtains that you felt were fit for a princess.

 

“NOW TO FURNITURE SHOPPING!” Papyrus exclaimed with incredible energy. Blue also seemed pumped for the last leg of the journey.

 

You, however, were dead on your feet.

 

Another bad joke. Maybe you had hung with Stretch too much over the past couple of days while the others were working. You might have felt bad, but even Papyrus made puns sometimes. 

 

Maybe it was just an effect of being around Sans and Stretch.

 

“Actually, I think we should end this trip here… we’ve been out for over three hours  _ and _ we haven’t eaten anything…”

 

“YOU’RE RIGHT!” Blue gasped, “LET’S GO GET SOME LUNCH THEN CONTINUE!”

 

“Um… how about we get some lunch, go home, and I can furniture shop online?”

 

Both Blue and Papyrus were disappointed slightly, but you ended up having a great time at lunch anyways, and both the boys seemed keen on helping you pick out furniture, even if you were doing it online.

 

… They were even discussing themes without you.

 

When you got home it was nearly seven and you were so tired that you brushed your teeth, changed into the sweats that had miraculously appeared on your bed again, clean, and passed out.

 

But the shirt didn’t smell like strawberries anymore and you’d forgotten to get the photo from Blue.

 

The nightmares continued.

 

…

 

Meanwhile Blue looked down at the picture in his hand.

 

It was the one he’d found of you and your family in your pocket, earlier. You must have left it in his room whenever you were taking a shower.

 

Idly, his gloved phalanx fiddled with one of the edges of the paper, eye lights focused on the tiny square, but mind beyond it.

 

He’ll return it tomorrow.

 

… he couldn’t ignore the heaviness in his SOUL, though, as the photo reminded him of what he’d done.

 

Guilt was eating at him.

 

He’d lied to you earlier - well, not really lied, but he hadn’t told you that he’d also found a shiny black button in your pocket, which was almost just as bad in his opinion.

 

And what’s worse is that he’d had it with him all day! Like a burning ember in his pocket, he’d been aware of it every time he saw you smile or laugh at something either he or Papyrus said.

 

Half of him wanted to return it and apologize for keeping it from you, but the other part of him found it… strangely familiar?

 

Like he’d seen it before.

 

 

… maybe he’d keep it to himself for a little longer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so there's my head cannon about skeleton gender. planning on going more into babies in later chaps,,,, also i like the idea of humans and monsters being together in a universe where they were never technically separated, but it still being kind of uncommon due to the ... health risks associated with bonding with a human. also.... yes, chip's universe is in the FUTURE!
> 
> glad i could update today but i don't think i'll be able to update next week :(
> 
> have had some life stuff come up and i won't be on the internet very often....
> 
> i still love you! thanks for the kudos and comments, and i'll be sure to write as often as possible!
> 
> Fanart from @addicted-to-the-fic again!
> 
>  
> 
> [okay this is epic](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182563875160/some-mid-day-sketches-of-our-favorite-chip-from)


	7. some weird in between chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... a little bit of this, a little bit of that....
> 
> at least papyrus seems excited?

 

 

_ You were bleeding out marrow, it was coming from your eye socket, dripping down onto the wet cement. It looked like wet dust. _

 

_ The sight was similar to one you’d experienced a few months ago when you’d accidentally cracked your rib trying to replicate some dumb commercial. _

 

_ Except your brother wasn’t here to save you now. You were scared. _

 

_ “Sorry, kid… didn’t want to do this, but them’s the rules, y’know?” The voice you associated with the pain of warm metal slamming into your face. _

 

_ Foot steps. They were leaving. She was leaving. _

 

_ When you couldn’t hear them any longer you started crying, whimpering. _

 

_ You were going to die here. She punched you and left you for dead. Your stats were dropping rapidly, despite her insistence she didn’t want to hurt you. _

 

_ Intent is everything. Maybe that’s why you’re not dead yet.  _ Yet. 

 

_ You couldn’t see anything out of your injured socket. You could only see the marrow leaking endlessly from your empty skull. _

 

_ You’d chipped your tooth when you fell. You could feel the piece in your mouth, but you felt too weak to summon your tongue and push it out. _

 

_ Footsteps approaching, you went silent. _

 

_ They heard you, how pathetic you were crying on the ground. They were coming to finish you off. _

 

_ “Kid? It’s me…” Not the girl. But one of them. _

 

_ “Shit, fuck… I don’t really know anything about skeleton monsters, but my mom is a doctor? I think I can help.” The human said.  _

 

_ You couldn’t see them. You could only see pain. Your life source dripping down onto the dirty alley concrete. _

 

_ The true epitome of  _ Alley Dust.

 

_ “Sorry… we never would’a pulled you over if we knew you was still in stripes…” _

 

\------

 

You sat up, gasping for air, clutching your right eye socket.

 

Bringing your skeletal hand away from your socket, you could have sworn gloopy white marrow was running down it, getting stuck in your joints where it would dry and gain a chalky -  _ dusty _ feeling.

 

Dust. You were turning into dust.

 

It was a few more minutes before you were able to get your breathing under control and realize that you weren’t dying.

 

You once again brought your hand up to your skull to feel your socket. 

 

Your phalanges brushed over the groove caused by her fist’s lack of traction on your skeletal face. Slightly higher you found the curve of your right eye socket and consequently the uneven edge where the chipping was.

 

A single phalanx slipped into your eye socket, feeling the chip from the other side. More grasped the inside of your skull.

 

It was numb. You couldn’t feel it anymore. You were lucky to retain sight in that socket, as she had stuck her entire fist in it.

 

While your phalanges were in your socket, you briefly summoned your tongue to feel the slight dent in your left front tooth from where you’d fallen and it’d caught on the cement.

 

Instinctively, you withdrew what was now your entire hand in your socket and looked over to your nightstand for the picture of your family you always kept on your person.

 

But it was gone.

 

Blue’s room, right. You were going to need that photo back as soon as possible.

 

Your thoughts drifted again as you slipped out of bed, shoving your feet into your slippers and wandering down the two sets of stairs that lead into the family room.

 

You walked until you reached the kitchen, and started making yourself a drink comprised of warm milk and some other sweet touches that your grandma used to make.

 

Your mind wasn’t on drinks, though.

 

Cambria felt so guilty for what happened.

 

You wanted him to. It was his fault.

 

And even now that there’s no way you’ll ever see him again, you’re still glad he felt guilty.

 

Does that make you a bad person?

 

You’re glad the last exchange you had wasn’t as bitter as the previous ones. You don’t know what you’d do if you found out that you’d never see him again and the last words you had said to him were curses.

 

Maybe if he made better choices it wouldn’t have had to be that way.

 

Sure, you’d still be poor as shit, but then…

 

Then you wouldn’t have been out on the streets and  _ she _ wouldn’t have died and…

 

… and you would have never met Gaster. Never gotten the education you did, or become a teacher, or, really, even be the same  _ you _ .

 

Fate has a strange way of playing out its story.

 

Looking down at the pot you had over the stove, you realized you made too much.

 

“kid?” Your spine went ramrod straight as you stiffened.

 

Turning, you were relieved to see it was just Sans. You turned back around.

 

“O-Oh, hi, Sans. What’re you doing at this hour, it’s, uh - “ you checked the oven clock, “two a.m.”

 

He shrugged, “nightmares. work. whichever. the question is what’re _ you _ doin’ out here? havin’ sum troubles sleepin’? excited ‘bout tomorrow?”

 

Oh. Right. Tomorrow you were supposed to go to the embassy to start your citizenship process.

 

You weren’t quite excited, though. Just nervous.

 

“I..” You contemplated telling him the truth. You’d been here for all of five days and yet you felt close to the guys like you’d known them for years.

 

You wanted to spill all your secrets.

 

Maybe you were just lonely. It’s been a long time since you’ve had friends.

 

Had you ever had more than one at a time?

 

“I had a bad dream.” You said quietly. “I came downstairs to make myself a warm drink.”

 

“guess that makes us two peas in a pod, kiddo. got enough for two?” Sans slung himself up so that he was seated on the counter beside you. He was looking down at you almost curiously, although with that same laid back style as always.

 

You nodded yes.

 

If you weren’t looking for them you wouldn’t even notice the signs of a recent nightmare.

 

Just like yours, his bones were softly clacking, his eyelights were darting around at every little noise. His grip on the edge of the counter was too hard. He was trying to ground himself in this reality. To stop thinking about what caused the nightmares.

 

“Did you want to talk about it? Gaster always said that helped.” You offered.

 

It was true. You’d suffered a lot of trauma, but part of your - long - recovery had been due to Gaster. He’d always been extremely open about emotions and mental health, encouraging you to do the same.

 

That, and he’d footed the rather large bill for your therapy.

 

So, Gaster had known all about your traumas. You often ranted to him about the fear of being dusted while you were walking on the street, your aversion to roses, your grief.  _ Stars _ , the greif, how was anyone supposed to live like this?

 

Perhaps Gaster had played a similar role to Sans as his father.

 

He shrugged again. “did you wanna talk ‘bout yours?”

 

Maybe it was premature in your relationship to start spilling secrets. Maybe you’d drive him away with the darkest memories that resided in your skull.

 

You’d only tell him the basics. You missed having someone to talk to.

 

“I… was dying. I almost died. I could feel my stats dropping. I was turning into dust. I woke up and thought… I thought that I was still dying. I could  _ feel _ the marrow turning chalky and dusty...”

 

Before you could get yourself worked up into another state of panic, though, you felt Sans’ skeletal hand rubbing comforting circles into the area between your shoulder blades.

 

“‘s okay, you’re okay…”

 

A few moments passed. Your breathing normalized again. Sans resumed his circles until you pulled away to get mugs for the drinks.

 

He surprised you by speaking again. His words were careful, quiet and calculated. He, too, was trying not to let too much on.

 

You didn’t mind.

 

“someone… close to me was getting hurt. by another person close to me. over and over again. they didn’t stop. i didn’t stop them. i just had to watch him get hurt over and over and over again…”

 

He took in a shuddering sigh.

 

“Did this…” You hesitated, “did this really happen?”

 

Sans looked up to you, expression that of someone very, very tired. “did your nightmare really happen?”

 

Your eye lights were locked in the dark. You couldn’t stop staring into his ‘eyes’. He needed this. He needed to know that you were the same. That you’d been hurt, too. That you knew what it was like to have something be over but  _ never really over. _

 

“Yes.” you punctuated your response by gently handing him the warm mug. His phalanges clacked against the ceramic as he gripped the mug tightly.

 

“mine too.”

 

You took a sip from your drink.

 

“Are you afraid that it’ll happen again?”

 

“yes.”

 

“Me too.”

 

The two of you sipped your drinks in silence until you were finished, then you lingered a bit in the presence of one another, neither of you quite ready to be alone yet.

 

Wondering who’d hurt the person he spoke of. Wondering who’d hurt  _ him _ .

 

You waited until Sans had passed out, skull pillowed by his crossed arms as he was seating at the counter.

 

You softly petted his skull, phalanges making a dull noise against the bone before you left to go back to your room.

 

“Good night, Sans.”

 

\------

 

“WAKE UP, CHIP!!” you were indeed awoken by the banging on your door courtesy of a certain tall energetic skeleton, warning you that you had an hour until Slim left the house for class.

 

He was taking you to the embassy on his way.

 

Groaning, you threw yourself unceremoniously onto the ground and flopped around for awhile, moving slowly to your dresser.

 

“‘S too early…” you yawned to yourself, begrudgingly standing, rifling through your drawers.

 

Hastily, you slipped on a baggy light pink sweater that would shield you from the damp spring air of Ebott and some skinny jeans that miraculously fitted your skeleton legs - you supposed the fact that being a skeleton monster and not an actual human skeleton gave your leg bones some shape and helped you fill out the jeans. The fit wasn’t perfect, though, so you summoned some magic to fill out the material.

 

Back in your universe there was far less mass manufactured clothing - since monsters made up around half of the population and all their bodies were so different it just became more common to pick a design and have it ordered to your measurements.

 

You kind of expected this universe’s clothing to be horribly ill fitting on your body, considering it was made for humans. (and, to be honest, they didn't make clothes very well even for just humans - really, even humans came in a variety of shapes and sizes - what was the point of trying to market what their idea of what you 'should' look like? It seemed like getting a wider variety of customers was better, even if you had to take the effort of creating each outfit)

 

(actually, while along this train of thought, you wondered if any of the papari had to tailor their clothes to their body types - theirs were more 'unique' than yours, anyhow.)

 

You picked some casual socks that would be hidden by your boots, and slipped on your slippers before padding your way downstairs to the kitchen.

 

… Where Papyrus was making some of his ‘World Famous Pancakes’. Despite his previous demonstration of cooking prowess, the pancakes were edible - decent, even. They were fluffy, cooked right and didn't seem to have any unwarranted ingredients.

 

Maybe he was just very, very bad at making spaghetti for some reason?

 

That didn't’ make any sense, though…

 

You elected not to dwell on it.

 

Now you were standing at the front door, waiting for Slim to grab his bookbag. At first you found the muffled cursing and thumps coming from above as Slim tried to find it rather endearing, but it’d been three minutes and you worried that one or both of you would be late.

 

At least you had Papyrus to keep you company, even if he was acting like a little mother hen.

 

“AND YOU HAVE YOUR LUNCH I PACKED, RIGHT??”

 

“Yes, Paps.”

 

“YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO ONCE YOU GET IN, RIGHT??”

 

“Yes, Paps.”

 

“THE LITTLE PAPER THEY FAXED OVER SAID TODAY’S LESSONS WILL END AT EXACTLY 3:20, SO THAT’S WHEN I’LL BE PICKING YOU UP!! I’LL BE AT THE FRONT OF THE EMBASSY IN MY CAR!!”

 

“Okay, Paps.”

 

“IF ANYONE MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, THEN CALL ME!!”

 

“Okay, Paps.”

 

Papyrus looked down at you for a few moments with wavering eye lights before he finally leaned down and scooped you into a hug, spinning you around.

 

“I’M SO PROUD OF YOU, MY LITTLE CHIP!” When Papyrus finally set you down, leaving you unsteady on your feet, he wiped a a magical orange tear from the corner of his eye socket.

 

“Th-thanks…” Ugh. You were still dizzy.

 

Good things skeletons didn’t throw up or you might have been seeing a reappearance of those pancakes Papyrus had made so lovingly for you.

 

“OH! SLIM, YOU’RE READY!! HAVE A NICE DAY AT SCHOOL AND REMEMBER TO DRIVE SAFE!!”

 

You turned to see Slim, who was just reaching the base of the stairs, book bag slung over his shoulder and fiery orange blush prominent on his cheekbones at Papyrus’ coddling. Today, he wasn’t wearing his ‘battle body’ - apparently, on your first day here, Papyrus, Blue and Slim had attended an event at the embassy earlier in the day. Odd choice of formal wear, but you weren’t one to judge.

 

Today his outfit was simple with a loose black t shirt and dark jeans. Most notable were the lack of gloves and boots (you were kind of disappointing to see him in black converse and not the boots - those were some seriously sassy shoes) - although he still wore the red scarf around his neck.

 

Cute.

 

… somewhere in the back of your head, though, you couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t have the perfect cookie-cutter hole in his hand that Papyrus did.

 

“I’m sure he will,” you cut in, knowing that you were due at the embassy in just under an hour and Slim’s classes started not too late after that. You loved Papyrus, but in the past few days you’d known him, you’d gleaned that he was something of a chatterbox.

 

And he was very funny, too - just that right now you didn’t have the time to hear him lecture you anymore on Stranger Danger than he’d done while you were eating your breakfast.

 

You waved Papyrus off as you took Slim’s hand and pulled him towards the front door. “Have a nice day, Papyrus! Don’t wear yourself out with all that exercise, y’hear?” You called back.

 

He replied cheerfully, but you couldn’t quite understand exactly what he was saying since you were actively leaving - it sounded like an affirmation, at least.

 

Once you were outside, you found yourself at a loss. You’d only been on the outside property that Papyrus and Sans owned a couple times, and the only time you’d gone into town had been when Blue and Papyrus took you clothing and furniture shopping.

 

Turns out that the pairs of brothers lived in some sort of cabin in the woods? Which is something that you had definitely not been prepared for - sure, it was a fairly large house and from the windows you saw greenery, but you thought it was probably just a mansion.

 

To be fair, Giant Log Cabin In The Middle Of Nowhere was not something someone traditionally thought of when they considered living arrangements for a rag-tag group of brothers who were alternate versions of each other.

 

For you, living in the woods was an adjustment. In your universe, you’d only ever been in the city you were born in - as a kid you were too poor to travel anywhere extravagant, and your grandma had been too old to take you even outside the city limits.

 

Your brother… well, he wasn’t in any position to leave the city, which didn’t change as the both of you grew older.

 

When Gaster had taken you in, he suggested traveling a few times, but you’d always put it off in favor of your studies, reasoning that you had plenty of time to travel if you so wished later. Guess you were wrong.

 

… 

 

The strange thing about forests is that they are not  _ at all _ silent, in fact, it was harder to fall asleep in your third story room than it was on the ground level of your first shitty apartment. And that place had the sound of sirens blaring and screaming matches filtering through the door at all hours of the night.

 

While  the sounds of the forest were not so openly threatening, it was scarier in a sort of insidious way; the gentle creaking of ancient trees, the sounds of bugs you’d never heard of chirping away and the ever persistent wind that blew on your window and caught on the edges of the roof to make it sound like there was a tornado outside.

 

During the day, though, the woods were a much more pleasant place to be - the trees really were beautiful, and even in the brothers’ yard there was an exquisite collection of wild flowers that always had the ability to make the air smell sweet.

 

You found that you enjoyed the smell of the woods and flowers, but also missed that strawberry scent from the shirt you’d borrowed last week - since then it’d been washed a few times, but you still used it for pajamas or a lay-around-the-house outfit.

 

You figured it might have been a detergent they stopped using, but didn’t feel the need to ask. You felt a little weird getting attached to the smell of a stolen shirt.

 

The one thing that captivated you at night, though, in the woods was the stars. Sans hinted that they might have a stargazing party soon, but never fully told you.

 

From what you knew about the boys, it would make sense. It wasn’t hard to get either Sans or Blue to prattle on and on about stars, but Red really took the cake. When you’d first started watching documentaries with him, you’d only gotten a glimpse at what a glutton for knowledge Red was.

 

After opening Netflix and seeing the sheer number of star documentaries in his cue, you were stunned. Each was watched through, and when you asked Red about it, he would just gush on and on about literally anything under the stars - he seemed to know about what each documentary covered and could almost recite them word for word.

 

… he really was a huge nerd.

 

“Earth To Skeleton? Helloooo? Is There  _ Anyone _ Home Or Is That Skull More Empty Than I’d Previously Assumed?” You were startled out of your thoughts by Slim, who flicked your forehead gently while trying to get your attention.

 

“Ooowww…” you whined in exaggerated pain, feeling the urge to stick your tongue out at the Tol Boi. You restrained yourself, if only for the fear of what he might do if you actually did.

 

At least he seemed mollified by your response, as his eye lights shown with something akin to mischief - something that was surprisingly common for this giant dork.

 

“...Well, Then, Ms. Astronaut, Are You Ready To Go Then?” Slim asked you in an amused tone of voice.

 

You couldn’t help the slight laugh of disbelief that left you - you know he was referencing you ‘spacing out’, but the pun was so perfectly timed with the topic you’d been thinking of not moments ago.

 

Slim seemed content with your laugh, either way, and began to briskly walk in the direction of the garage - Blue and Papyrus had already shown you when you’d gone into the town, but you were still surprised that a few yards off from the house the skeletons had built a separate garage to contain all of their cool vehicles.

 

They were all very happy with how impressed you were, but truthfully it wouldn’t have been hard to impress you - sure, you’d ridden in Gaster’s car a couple dozen times, but besides that you’d never owned a vehicle of your own.

 

… and when a bright chirp came from the slick black car (honestly, you don't know the name of it, but it looks fancy and expensive) at the very end of the line of cool, shiny cars and motorcycles you probably didn’t understand the value of - you couldn’t help but let your grin cover your skull.

 

Living with these skeletons was  _ fun _ .

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, um,,, hey,,,
> 
> so, ya, um,,, planning on having papari and sansi bonding chapters in the next few weeks in which we get to know our favorite skeletons better! right here is just a sneak peek.... ehehehh....
> 
> \- also - !
> 
> bad news: this chapter feels kind of incomplete to me,,,, (like, i don't think anything super super significant happened, like, not enough to distinguish itself...)
> 
> good news: treat this as a chap 6.5 bc on wednesday i'll be putting out the REAL chap 7!! thanks for being so patient on my week-long break!!
> 
> ... right now i'm having a bit of difficulty writing bc i'm writing ahead and getting into something akin to plot, so wish me luck!!
> 
> i love all of you!!
> 
> .... more fan art from [@addicted-to-the-fic](https://addicted-to-the-fic.tumblr.com/)!!
> 
> !!
> 
> [cute kid chip and some memes with epic!sans :0](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/182856982500/just-some-more-cuteness-and-memes-of-our-fav-girl)


	8. papari bonding (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> slim drives you to the embassy and papy picks you up
> 
> ...
> 
> should be largely uneventful, right?

 

 

… Slim was an okay driver.

 

Okay, that was a lie - he was literally the worst driver in existence  _ ever _ .

 

How could he and Papyrus be almost the same person and Slim be such an  awful driver?! Papyrus had been law abiding, reasonable and  _ never _ taken his eyes off the road, even when he was conversing with you.

 

Slim?

 

The  _ exact opposite _ . Sure, he’d been cautious when you were still on the country road, which was not paved and littered with bumps and holes, but when you’d gotten into the city?

 

Once, you’d inquired about why you were pushing twenty over the speed limit on a  _ highway _ (where the limit was literally 65 mph), he’d had the gall to tell you that speed  _ limits _ , created by the  _ law _ were ‘suggestions’.

 

He also had no qualms with swerving between cars and honking loudly at others - even rolling down the window on more than one occasion (all within the thirty minutes it took for you go get to your destination) to  _ yell _ at other drivers! Who had been obeying the  _ law _ !

 

You almost felt tempted to remind Slim that Papyrus had explicitly told him to  _ DRIVE SAFELY _ . You didn’t think it’d have much of an impact though, Slim didn’t even seem aware that what he was doing was dangerous.

 

… And that was before he took out his phone to check something, when he began to drive  _ with his elbows _ . You were almost convinced that you’d already died and you were in the eternal hell of sitting in this car, waiting to die all over again.

 

You almost collapsed into a pile of bones when you finally,  _ finally _ , reached the embassy. And, tempted as you were, you didn’t fall to the ground to kiss it.

 

“Quit Being Such A Babybones…” Slim mumbled, flicking your skull again.

 

… He wasn’t going to make that a habit, was he?

 

Dragging your thoughts away from that topic, you gazed up at the embassy. It was a very official looking building, with giant pillar columns and the traditional look of a public government facility.

 

From what you looked up online, it served not only as the place for monsters to get their registrations, but also as a courthouse, an information center, a central office and hub for all monster officials, and curiously enough, something of a postal office.

 

Which meant that it was absolutely  _ packed _ with monsters and humans alike.

 

Faintly, you could hear your bones rattling as you took unsure steps towards the large doors. On the steps leading up to them, monsters and humans were sitting around, chatting or doing whatever.

 

It wasn’t practical, but you felt like each of their eyes was trained on you, wondering what a tiny skeleton like yourself was doing here.

 

_ Can they tell? _ You thought, drawing your sleeves over your hands in nervousness,  _ can they tell I don’t belong here, in this universe? _

 

In this universe.

 

You felt sick, a wave of vertigo smashing into you and almost dragging you to the ground. Your skull felt full of magic, like you were drowning in it - breathing was suddenly difficult.

 

_ This _ universe. Not yours.

 

Not the one you’d grown up in, not the one you’d met the love of your life in or picked up the pieces in.

 

You’d never be able to visit your grandma’s grave.

 

She probably didn’t even exist in this universe.

 

The only evidence you even had that your family was real was a photo that you’d left in Blues room, and now - !

 

Turning almost robotically on the spot, you shakily made your way back down to the steps where Slim’s car was, thankfully, still stalled as he watched you.

 

You opened the door, glad to see that he hadn’t locked it behind you, and sat down in the passenger seat.

 

You couldn’t hear the world around you, you couldn’t hear Slim asking you what was wrong.

 

Your thoughts were spirling.

 

Did they know you were gone in your universe? Did they care? Did the school replace you? Did your landlord know? Did he evict you, throw out all of your things - all of your pictures? The only evidence you had of a life before you were on the streets, that you’d loved and been loved in return?

 

You had nothing, again - hadn’t you already had enough heartbreak in your fifty two years, or was it never enough? 

 

A-and now where were you?

 

Living with a bunch of skeletons who supposedly knew your mentor? Were trying to get him back?

 

The thought was surreal to you.

 

He was the only one you had left, the only one who had truly cared about you.

 

He picked you up off the streets when you were thinking about going after  _ her _ .

 

But how much did he really care about you if he was willing to leave? To get himself killed or suck in a void where you could never see each other again?

 

_ Nobody loved you. _

 

Dad didn’t love you enough to find a less dangerous job, despite having a new babybones at home.

 

Mom didn’t love you enough to get through the breach and take care of you and Cam.

 

Grandma didn’t love you enough to stick around for longer -  _ why?  _ You asked yourself,  _ why are humans so fragile…? _

 

Cam didn’t love you enough to quit.

 

_ She _ didn’t love you enough to stay.

 

And just when you thought you’d found somebody who loved you, wanted to be your family and wouldn’t be taken away by illness or time,  _ he  _ left too.

 

You were so  _ tired _ , so tired of caring and having your SOUL stomped to dust every time. Humans weren’t reliable and monsters weren’t any better, in your book.

 

Now, you were being handed a new chance to make connections - but would you take it? Sure, these skeletons seemed compassionate, zany, fun… but how long before their true colors shone through? Until each of their own personal vices stole them away?

 

You hadn’t even noticed that Slim had moved you at some point to the back seat of his car, and was sitting next to you, shoulders awkwardly hunched as he patted your back.

 

When you came to, you found yourself hunched over, knees pulled to your chest and boots on the seat - which Slim would most likely murder you for later - with Slim sitting as far away as he was physically able, while his long arm was stretched over to give you comforting pats.

 

… semi comforting pats.

 

Okay, Not At All Comforting Pats, But The Thought Is There Pats; they were a bit too hard and his hand never lingered on your back for more than a moment. At least the steady rhythm helped quell your anxiety.

 

When your hearing tuned back in, you were surprised to find that he was humming something softly - a tune you couldn’t recognize, but appreciated nonetheless.

 

He didn’t seem to notice that you’d calmed down, and continued to hum and pat your back, his own sockets shut in concentration. Of what, you weren’t aware, until you noticed the slight tingling of the contact from his hand and your back.

 

… He was using green magic on you?

 

The very thought warmed your SOUL, and it seemed that finally Slim, attuned to your SOUL from using healing magic, noticed that you had come down from your panicked state.

 

When he saw you looking at him, Slim jolted away from you, banging his head on the roof of his car and falling back on the door. “S-So You’re Better, Then?” He stuttered out, dusting imaginary grime off of his outfit and blinking his sockets hard a few times.

 

You nodded, shooting a warbly grin at him, “thanks, for, uh, helping me. You didn’t have to - “ you waved your hand a bit to signal the magic.

 

By now, Slim had regained his composure, and was now sitting up as straight as he could in the slightly cramped backseat.

 

“Think Nothing Of It - It Is A Rather Simple Trick.”

 

You nodded your head again - that type of green magic was generally used to sooth young or loved ones. Performing it on someone who wasn’t a child or close in your family, though, was kind of … personal, is all.

 

Perhaps culture is different in this universe and the one he came from since they were underground for so long and away from humans.

 

Your mother had probably used it on you when you were a babybones, but you were too young to remember. Humans couldn’t use it, and you remembered a few occasions where Cam had used iton you as a kid, but you’d refused it any time after you’d had your socket punched in.

 

You, yourself had used it on  _ her _ a few times whenever she was particularly upset. You only wished it had been enough.

 

“I’ll probably be late if I don’t leave now..” you told Slim, cracking open the car door. “Sorry… Sorry if I made you late or something…” Before you could even take a moment to cringe at how awkward you sounded, Slim was already somehow out the car and on the other side of your opened door.

 

“I’ll Escort You - My Classes Don’t Start For Another Quarter Hour - Plenty Of Time.”

 

You were slightly flustered at his chivalry, but also knew that his college was at least a half hour drive.

 

… Scratch that. Half hour drive for  _ normal _ people.

 

He held the door of the car open for you, treating you like a proper lady which both made you want to blush and giggle at the same time as hide your face and squeal in embarrassment - there were still tons of monsters  _ and _ humans around to witness it!

 

And just when you’d expected him to take your offered hand and maybe lend you an arm or something - he hauled you up to where he was  _ carrying you _ \- l-like some sort of kid or something!

 

It definitely put a damper on the ‘romantic’ atmosphere, but you couldn’t deny the ever deepening shade of purple covering your cheekbones.

 

The way he was carrying you was so that you were seated on the crook of his elbow and the side of your body was flush against his chest and gave you a vantage point from a few inches above his skull.

 

You always knew he was tall, but seeing things from his perspective was almost scary - good thing you didn’t have a fear of heights, or else this situation might have been flustering for a different reason entirely.

 

Aware of the people around as you had been on your first climb up the steps of the embassy, you didn’t even spare a thought to anyone that wasn’t you or Slim as you were carried up the steps.

 

You’d caught one of his eye lights out of the corner of his sockets briefly early on in the journey, and found it convenient to hide your face in the collar of your sweater, so he couldn’t see just how purple your skull was.

 

He didn’t even put you down when you got up the steps; he continued into the building and only set you down when you reached a bench next to the wall.

 

Inwardly, you marveled at the beautiful architecture of the building. The purple stone that the building seemed to be completely made of was shiny and polished like marble. Around you there were various help and information desks, with varying sized lines in front of them and plenty other people who were just sitting on benches like you or milling about in the area meant for guests to wait.

 

You almost wished you’d gotten here a bit early just to sit in one of those lavish chairs stationed around a large fireplace that had magical green fire lit inside. You also longed to feel the ornate and plush looking carpet underneath those chairs.

 

… Something else you noticed was the Delta Rune scattered literally  _ everywhere _ . You noticed it on the website as well. It didn’t bother you, but you wondered if there was a division between state and religion in this timeline or if this building also served as a religious area, too. Wouldn’t surprise you.

 

“You Told Said Earlier That You Knew Where To Go From Here. Was That The Truth Or Do I Have To Take You There, Aswell?” While Slim’s words were impatient, his tone was soft (as soft as you supposed Slim could get).

 

Fiddling with the long ends of your sleeves, you looked away as you replied. “I know where to go. And, um, thanks, Slim. For everything.”

 

He nodded once in return, patting your head a few times in much the same manner as he did in the car.

 

“... If Anyone Makes You Uncomfortable, Call Me.” You almost cracked a smile at how alike he and Papyrus were, despite seeming so different, but didn’t want to offend Slim.

 

“Of course, Slim Jim, now go on - you’ve only got seven minutes until your class starts, right?”

 

He murmured a quiet curse and waved at you one last time before jogging out the door.

 

You watched him leave, and even looked out the window to make sure he got to his car safely. Even after, you stayed in place for a few moments after his car had disappeared.

 

… You forgot your lunch at home.

 

Papyrus was going to kill you.

 

\----------

 

You didn’t even have to find your way around, turns out they had a human temp - assigned from human resources (the irony was not lost on you), to help you find your way and fill out some paperwork in person that couldn’t be done over the internet.

 

She explained to you that the first day would probably be the longest since you had to fill out some paperwork and watch an extra introductory tape.

 

Apparently there were no other monsters getting their registration at the same time as you, so it was just you and her in the room as the video explained human culture to you. Some of it was dumb, like how to ‘appropriately touch a human acquaintance’, like they were afraid that monsters didn’t know what boundaries or consent was.

 

But… you had to admit that some of it was helpful. Turns out some culture can shift significantly when two races are separated - like way more holidays, and also religion. Most religious figures from this timeline were born after monsters had already been sealed away, which meant that magic and monsters were portrayed as awful and evil demons.

 

That part made you a little sick.

 

…

 

You were given a short lunch break, to which you had to explain that you forgot your lunch and didn’t bring any money for vending machines.

 

Luckily ‘Sarah’ was nice enough to share some of her sandwich with you.

 

… you felt like you made a good friend. At the end of the videos, you forgot to ask for her number though.

 

Either way, you’d be seeing a lot of her over the next two weeks, anyways.

 

The rest of the session continued normally.

 

What wasn’t normal was what happened afterwards.

 

Remember how Papyrus had told you that he would be waiting for you outside in his car?

 

Well it turns out that you would not be able to leave the building without an escort, currently, because the ambassador, Frisk, was visiting.

 

Which meant that every journalist in the nearest fifteen mile radius was now at the embassy, trying to get pictures or an interview with the teen.

 

Both monsters and humans were waiting worriedly in the lobby while reporters snapped pictures from outside the window and tried to slip past the guards who were stationed at the doors.

 

.. They weren’t there before. Someone must have called security whenever the flood arrived.

 

Most of the humans looked at most annoyed, but some monsters were cowering in the corner. You could understand why, actually - at every window there were at least three flashing cameras, all pointed in the directions of monsters all around - especially the more ‘exotic’ looking ones.

 

Which, of course, meant that all the journalists were trying to get a good photo of the short skeleton who was anxiously trying to dial her friend.

 

The dialing of the phone in your ear was almost drowned out by loud reporters asking questions or demanding audiences with whomever, and it was honestly wearing at your nerves.

 

Papyrus just wasn’t  _ picking up _ , though, which greatly worried you - he was so occupied with you this morning, telling you to call if you felt uncomfortable, but you felt damn uncomfortable right now and he still wasn’t picking up.

 

The thought that he might have been cornered by reporters in his car in the front of the building gnawed at your magical stomach until you felt light headed - until you saw the guards step aside for a few moments.

 

You feared that a flood of journalists would run in and begin to interview and take pictures of everybody, but to your relief it was Papyrus.

 

He looked around frantically, an expression that portrayed the worry you yourself had been feeling not moments ago captured perfectly on his skull.

 

When you called out for him, his skull whipped towards you, and he let out a loud sigh of relief, running towards you. You, too, ran towards him, and couldn’t find it in you to be perturbed by how tightly he was holding on.

 

“CHIP! YOU’RE OKAY! I WAS WORRIED YOU MIGHT HAVE GONE LOOKING FOR ME AND BEEN CAUGHT BY ONE OF THOSE AWFUL NEWS PEOPLE!”

 

“I was actually afraid of the same, Papyrus - how did you get through the crowd?”

 

“WELL, AS I AM THE MASCOT FOR MONSTER-KIND, IT WAS RATHER DIFFICULT, BUT I DO HOLD SOME SWAY SO I WAS ABLE TO PUSH THROUGH THE CROWD!”

 

Wait - Monster Mascot?

 

“YES, DID YOU NOT KNOW?” 

 

You said that out loud? Oh, well, either way, it was going to be one heck of a fight to get back out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> papi to the rescue lol... hope you enjoyed the (real) chapter 7. or, you can just consider chap 7 a two parter, if you want!
> 
> \- also - 
> 
> i want to write more one shots!! drive by my one shot work and drop some prompts, or, alternatively... i have [a tumblr](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com)
> 
> !!! trying to set up asks!! or just message me!!
> 
> can't promise that they'll be fast but i /will/ look at and appreciate prompts and definitely try to write some!


	9. papari bonding (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hanging out with ut and us papis!!

 

 

Turns out Papyrus’ way of taking precaution to no lose you to the journalists was to carry you bridal style, close to his chest.

 

“I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY CAUGHT ME IN MY CASUAL WEAR!” Papyrus had complained right before you both headed into the crowd.

 

His casual wear, as you had discovered, was composed of mostly hawaiian tees and cut-off jean shorts, accessorised by a a collection of fanny packs that had anything ranging from flames to frogs hand-embroidered on. Today was a tadpole decorated fanny pack with a mostly green flowery shirt and acid washed cut off jean shorts. Of course with the horribly clashing red scarf draped around his shoulders, too.

 

It somehow worked. You didn’t know how.

 

“IT’S MUCH LESS PROFESSIONAL THAN MY BATTLE BODY! HOW IS ANYBODY SUPPOSED TO RECOGNIZE MY GREATNESS IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM NOT DRESSED TO PERFECTION?” he continued to lament.

 

You snickered slightly at his dramatic display. “You look super nice today, Papyrus, I bet they’ll all be too blinded by your fashion skills to even approach us!”

 

HIs demeanor was suddenly shifted as he grinned down at you, “NYEH HEH HEH - WITH GENUINE COMPLIMENTS LIKE YOURS POWERING ME, I COULD WALK THROUGH MILES OF REPORTERS!”

 

However confident the two of you were feeling behind the safety of large doors and trained guards was diminished though, when you stepped back past the guards.

 

Immediately journalists swamped Papyrus, reaching for any piece of clothing that they could tug on to get his attention.

 

And, while Papyrus held you as high and close to himself as possible, some reporters still tried to tug on your sleeves or tap on your shoulders or shove microphones and cameras into your face.

 

Very similar to how you had done when Slim carried you  _ up _ these steps, you buried your face into the collar of your sweater, hiding and ignoring any questions directed at you.

 

Papyrus, however, was taking it like a champ. From what you could see from your brief peeks upwards, his face was trained into a mask of professionalism and eye lights faced unwaveringly forwards.

 

He didn’t stop to answer any questions, nor did he rudely push through the crowd and yell at people - was simply passed through, and despite the many people tugging at the two of you and trying to get in front of the two of you, he almost…  _ glided _ through the crowd.

 

You always knew Papyrus as cool, but this takes it to a whole new level.

 

When you made it to Papyrus’ car, your arms were winded firmly around his cerebral vertebrae and your cheeks were probably more than a little purple tinged.

 

You were surprised when Papyrus didn’t let you down after you reached the car - much like Slim, he held onto you for longer - until he had set you firmly in your seat. He even did the buckle for you.

 

From there, you watched as he efficiently dodged reporters trying to block his entry into the car, and finally buckled himself.

 

For a moment, he said nothing, face still trained into that serious mask. Like this… Papyrus almost looked scary…  _ powerful _ .

 

… Or, at least, that was until he broke into that grin you knew so well as he turned to you.

 

“WELL! THAT WAS AN EXPERIENCE I NEVER WANT TO BUT LIKELY WILL FACE AGAIN!”

 

You giggled tiredly as he started the car up and reporters fled from the vehicle out of fear of being injured. Out of the corner of your eye socket you caught a glimpse of who the journalists that left you were flocking to now.

 

… oh, wait, that’s Frisk, in the flesh.

 

Damn. Another pun. Seriously, what is it with the puns and this universe?

 

Either way, you were only able to catch a glimpse at the teen ambassador before Papyrus was pulling out.

 

“I guess you must know Frisk pretty well, being mascot and everything… wait, what does a mascot even do?” You asked, more than a little distracted at the spectacle. The noise was muffled by the car, but you could still hear the clamoring and yelling of reporters as they damn near climbed over each other to get a picture of the ambassador.

 

“YES, WELL, FRISKY AND I ARE VERY GOOD FRIENDS! EVEN UNDERGROUND WE WENT ON A DATE! OF COURSE I HAD TO LET THEM DOWN, BUT…. CHIP?”

 

“Mhm?” 

 

Your attention hadn’t turned from the window… you were sure you’d seen something…

 

_ There! _

 

A flash of blonde hair. There was something familiar about it.

 

There was no way, though, this was a different universe. You brushed it off.

 

_ And there goes another pun _ , you thought to yourself.

 

“IS THERE SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT FRISK’S TRANSLATOR? SHE’S A VERY NICE WOMAN BUT YOU LOOK A LITTLE… SAD.” Leave it to Papyrus to somehow read your mind. You’ve known him for a little over a week and yet he knew you inside and out.

“... Translator?”

 

“YES - THEY’RE DEAF. MONSTERS, AS YOU KNOW, COMMUNICATE WITH OUR SOULS, BUT HUMANS ARE NOT SO LUCKY - HOWEVER, FRISK HAS THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE WITH US SINCE THEY ARE A MAGE. THEY STILL NEED A TRANSLATOR TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER HUMANS THAT CAN’T SIGN, THOUGH!”

 

“Ah, okay. I almost forgot mages exist over here. It’s kind of scary to think about humans with magic.” And it was true. Their SOULs were already so strong… imagining a human with magic was surreal. If they were back in your universe, you didn’t even want to think about what would happen.

 

You’d like to think that after milenia of peace between the races that nothing would change, but you knew it was only a hope.

 

It was in the nature of both man and monster to come out on top.

 

“PERHAPS - BUT IT’S THAT KIND OF FEAR THAT FOSTERED THE WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND THEN THE MINDSET IN THE UNDERGROUND, AND EVEN THE STIGMA OF MONSTERS AND MAGES TODAY.”

 

You scratched at the brim of your nasal ridge, the skeleton equivalent of stroking a beard. “I guess you’re right. Still seems like a big responsibility for a kid.”

 

“YES, BUT THEY HAVE LOTS OF SUPPORT FROM THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS - LIKE ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS MASCOT OF MONSTERKIND - OH! I ALMOST FORGOT, YOU ASKED ABOUT MY RESPONSIBILITIES AS MASCOT!”

 

As the car pulled in to the main road, Papyrus cleared his non-existent throat in a comically self important way and he drummed his fingers on the wheel, showing off the gloves he was  _ also _ still wearing.

 

You didn’t blame him for those, though - it was very exhausting to answer questions about your scars. And if he had to deal with anything like the fiasco you just narrowly escaped with him on a regular basis, then it was far more than warranted.

 

The one thing you did find yourself disgruntled over was the  _ finger drumming _ .

 

_ Stop stop stop stop stop stop… _

 

Thankfully your prayers were answered and he stopped as he started his monologue.

 

“I SHOW UP TO EVENTS AND LOOK PRETTY -  _ BUT PAPYRUS _ , YOU MUST BE THINKING TO YOURSELF,  _ YOU ALWAYS LOOK PRETTY _ \- I KNOW, DEAR SKELETON, MY JOB SOUNDS LIKE A BREEZE… WHEN IT IS IN FACT EVERYTHING  _ BUT _ A BREEZE! INSTEAD IT IS MORE OF A MONSOON!”

 

He sighs dramatically before continuing.

 

“DESPITE MY CHARMING GOOD LOOKS AND NATURAL CHARISMA, I HAVE ONE QUALITY MANY MAY REGARD AS A WEAKNESS - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR MY SLOB OF A BROTHER!” He punctuates his statement by flipping down the sun visor on your side of the car (and while he was doing this, you felt that you should mention that he  _ never looked away from the road _ ) where various pictures of him posing with Sans napping lazily in the background were clipped up.

 

… How was Sans napping in every single photo and still doing a peace sign?!

 

“ALAS, WHENEVER I LITERALLY DRAG HIM TO ANY EVENT, HE NEARLY CANCELS OUT MY GREATNESS WITH HIS INSUFFERABLE PUNS! OF COURSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CANCEL MY GREATNESS OUT, BUT HE IS  _ VERY  _ CLOSE TO DOING IT! VERY! CLOSE!”

 

“AND WHAT’S WORSE IS THAT THE GUESTS ACTUALLY  _ LAUGH  _ AT THEM! IT’S TERRIBLE! HE’S SPREADING THE DISEASE!”

 

He sounded so serious, but at the same time you were on the edge of laughter - “ _ T-The ‘ _ Disease _ ’? _ ” You asked from behind where you held your laughter back with your skeletal hand.

 

“IT MIGHT AS WELL BE ONE!”

 

You thought about all the times that you’d unintentionally punned just in your own head, and silently agreed with him.

 

“SO, DID YOU ENJOY YOUR LUNCH?” Papyrus inquired, tone of voice knowing, and you felt your sins crawling up your back. Lie and hope he doesn’t find out, or tell the truth and risk another lecture?

 

Before you could decide, though, you saw the brown sack lunch sitting in the back in the rearview mirror.

 

Exhibit A.

 

“... M’sorry, Paps, I forgot it…” You mumbled out, waiting for another good-natured but thorough lecture.

 

Instead, though, you only heard Papyrus laugh, “I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT! DON’T WORRY, THOUGH. I’LL HAVE STRETCH TAKE YOU OUT FOR LUNCH!... OR WOULD IT BE DUNCH? LINNER? EITHER WAY, I REGRETFULLY CANNOT ATTEND DUE TO ANOTHER CLASS I’M TEACHING AT  4:20, BUT I’M SURE YOU TWO WILL HAVE PLENTY OF FUN!”

 

“Thanks Paps, but it’s a little late for lunch and a bit early for dunch/linner, don’t you think? Plus I’m sure Stretch has other things to be doing… like writing… and stuff.” Wow Stretch really didn’t do a lot, now that you think about it.

 

I mean, Sans and Red were lazy but Sans worked outside of the house and Red at least had a social life, apparently.

 

“Plus someone shared their sandwich with me.” You added, remembering Sarah’s noble sacrifice.

 

“NONSENSE! I GUARANTEE YOU STRETCH HAS NOT EATEN LUNCH EITHER, PLUS HALF OF A SANDWICH IS NOTHING TO SUSTAIN HEALTHY BONES ON!”

 

\-------

 

Which is how you ended up in Muffet’s Bakery with Stretch, seated on a table as he typed away on a laptop.

 

He’d taken you out when Papyrus heavily suggested that since neither of you had had lunch that you should go out, except Stretch didn’t use the car he apparently had.

 

(The orange buggy somewhere in between the other cars in the garage, but it your opinion, the buggy was  _ way too small _ to contain a monster as tall as Stretch)

 

Instead, he teleported you. Well, he  _ called  _ it a ‘short cut’, but as the woke skeleton you were, you knew the truth.

 

… and it was kind of disorientating, to be honest. It felt like every molecule of your dust had been taken apart and rearranged but maybe in the wrong order (you  _ swore _ you could still feel the dust on your face shifting, and it was bugging the hell out of you because it felt like a mild itch that  _ wouldn’t go away _ )

 

You hadn’t gotten nauseous, though, which was definitely a plus.

 

Placid though as he was now, you were convinced he was angry at you. Which, well, you might have been with yourself as well if he’d done what you had.

 

In your defense, though, he snuck up on you! 

 

_ Papyrus had left already, waving jovially at the both of you, and now you were left alone with Stretch. He’d been sitting in the living room, typing away, next to the lit fireplace. _

 

_ A little odd, considering it was near summer in this universe, but you didn’t question it. Maybe he was a dramatic writer who needed to set the mood or something. _

 

_ You looked away from him for a few moments, trying to not see this as a strangely domestic and romantic scene as you spoke, “You don’t have to, I can probably make something - “ _

 

_ Looking back, you were startled to see that he was no longer on the couch. _

 

_ … A hallucination?! _

 

_ Then, from behind, you felt a bony hand on your shoulder and Stretch’s voice asking you if it was okay to show you one of his favorite bakeries. Surprised as you were, though, it activated a fight-or-flight defense mechanism in you. _

 

_ Your right eye light flared to life as a lavender ring, and you felt your magic coming to you, sending a power wave through the room and sparking to life at your joints, tinting the room in a purple glow. You could feel your magic wanting to take the shape of sharpened bones, but you restrained yourself. _

 

_ And it was a good thing, too - Stretch had jumped back, obviously surprised by your unexpected display of aggression. _

 

_ You looked up at him to apologize, but were shocked to see that the bony face that had previously been so open to you was now… hardened? Closed off? _

 

_ He looked angry. _

 

_ “I-I’m sorry, Stretch, you surprised me - “ _

 

_ He didn’t reply, instead, he muttered something about a short cut and grabbed your shoulder. A moment or eternity later (although you weren’t sure if it felt like an eternity due to the complete darkness of the void or if it was just the fact that one of your housemates was upset with you) you were standing in a purple themed bakery. _

 

_ A  _ spider _ purple themed bakery. _

 

…

 

And now Stretch was obviously still upset with you - he had headphones on over his skull, that stony look on his face and he was typing with way to much pressure.

 

He hadn’t said anything since the both of you had arrived here save an order for some honey and a pastry to a fluffy cute spider that had taken your order.

 

Having never been here before, you asked for the special, while Stretch muttered for his usual.

 

He didn’t look up at you once.

 

… For some reason this silence of his felt very similar to a disgruntled child icing you out, but it might just be because of your experience teaching.

 

Either way you found it best to let him come around on his own - after all, you  _ were _ the one who had let loose such a blatant display of aggression.

 

In the meantime, you could fully appreciate how  _ cute _ this bakery was! Purple was, obviously, your color, but it went beyond the main color theme.

 

And, yeah, the lace was super cute, but what really got you was how it was decorated into  _ little spider webs _ … adorable! On the windows there were spider paintings, all around there were sparkles and real cobwebs with tiny furry spiders hanging around, tiny squeaking and chattering you assumed to be their language floating about.

 

It took all of your energy (which you didn’t have much of - long day, really) not to pet the ones who scattered by in passing.

 

You were startled out of your revorie by the sound of Stretch slamming his laptop shut, force causing the spiders who had just been beginning to gather around you scitter away on their little stick legs.

 

You looked up at him, half anxious and half more than a little pissed.

 

Okay, sure, you were the first to admit that he had every right to be angry at you but that  _ did not _ mean he could act so childishly in public.

 

… the small, child side of you was still slightly fearful, though. He was a fairly tall monster and you were still so tiny…

 

An incessant tapping sound, the harsh meeting of bones to the polished wood surface of the table, reaching you as the tall skeleton in question shot you a look for the first time since you’d sat at the table, and as poison filled as it was, it relieved you slightly.

 

_ But the tapping _ . It was even worse than Papyrus’ finger drumming on the steering wheel earlier because Stretch’s bare phalanges were drumming against a harder surface, creating a loud, pervasive and constant sound that you  _ hated _ .

 

_ It was driving you crazy. It made you want to bang your skull against the table. _

 

_ Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop…. _

 

“somethin’ botherin’ you bud? y’were lookin’ pretty comfy with those spiders earlier… is it somethin’ else?”

 

You decided to afford him the benefit of the doubt, so you tried to explain it to him.

 

“... ah, well, um…” The tapping continued. You dug the heels of your ‘palms’ into your eye sockets as you tried to go on. One of the bones in your hand caught on the edge of your chipped eye socket and you immediately sought refuge in the sting it brought.

 

“G-gaster, he … ah, he, um… took me to, a, uh, a therapist…”

 

Beyond the discomfort, the longer the sound continued, the more you felt an unreasonable anger building in your tiny body, causing magic to curl around you.

 

_ No! _ You thought - he was already angry at you for being aggressive earlier, there was no way you were gonna screw up and fly into a blind rage over the sound of  _ tapping _ .

 

“... W-we already knew that I…. fuck, that I - nnnn, I had some bad anxiety, but…. I also have, huh, I have miso- _ misophonia _ …”

 

Not quite a fear of sounds, but it does mean that certain sounds super trigger you into fits of rage. By all means, if you were given the proper means to help cope when you were younger it wouldn’t affect you so much - but the cool thing about being raised in a violent and unstable environment is that you didn’t get support like that.

 

… and you’d stopped going to therapy after Gaster disappeared.

 

“Th-the sound of tapping, it, uh makes me - “

 

“ _ uncomfortable? _ ” Stretch asked, cutting you off.

 

Upset and completely done with his attitude, you gripped the edge of the table with one hand, and glared up at him,  the other hand firmly tugging down your left eye socket.

 

“ _ Angry _ . It makes me  _ really really _ angry.”

 

The tapping stops and Stretch grins smugly.

 

.

.

.

 

Fuck. You lost your cool.  _ Again _ .

 

Turning your face downwards, you curled your phalanges deeper into your socket and nearly gasped at the unexpected burst of pain that exploded in your skull.

 

_ Too far, too far…. _ You silently groaned, shaking hand lowering down to the table.

 

Man, today just couldn’t get better, couldn’t it?

 

One almost and one full blown panic attack, a flurry of invasive reporters and now  _ this _ .

 

Before you could further lament your luck, your food was delivered by hoard of small, fluffy spiders, which lightened your mood somewhat.

 

You even managed to spare a grin at them, waving slightly. Right afterwards, your hand flew back up to your face to clutch at the socket that was definitely drooping now. Oh well. It’ll be back to normal after some monster food, which, luckily, you have readily available at the moment.

 

You looked down at the cute donut on your plate, which was rather large but delicious looking all the same. Very sweet and soft looking, too. Even better was the cider that was sat next to the plate, frosted over slightly with condensation.

 

“tuck in,” Stretch said with a surprising lack of hostility… he even sounded… mischievous? “it’s good. by spiders, of spiders.”

 

Confused, you stared at  him, before your mind registered that the phrase… was scattered all throughout the store.

 

On the napkin holder at your table.

 

_ By spiders, of spiders! _

 

“O-of spiders?” you stuttered out, not caring at the moment that Stretch was the reason there was an aching skull clouding your rational thinking at the moment.

 

His grin widened. It was not a nice grin. “mmmmhm… y’know yer little fluffy friends?... well after they  _ bite the dust _ … well, nyeh..” He tapped the side of the glass cup that held your cider.

 

For the first time you noticed the way the cider glittered…  _ sparkled _ . Almost like the scattered remains of a pile of dust that the wind had picked up…

 

Stars, you were going to be sick. Screw what they saw about skeletons not being able to throw up, you were about to prove them wrong.

 

_ “c’mon, try it… ‘s real tasty…” _

 

You  _ knew _ it was Stretch talking, but in your mind you could only hear the voice of one of your brother’s friends.

 

_ A dusty bag, sat right in the middle of the living room. Almost ordinary. Like a bag of flour. _

 

_ Like the substance that spilled out and gathered on the floor wasn’t the remains of a living being. _

 

_ If you tried hard, you could pretend that you couldn’t smell it. That you couldn’t feel it sticking to the bottom of your socks as you treaded to the kitchen whenever Cam didn’t vacuum well enough. _

 

_ You could  _ ignore _ it. Because you loved your brother. _

 

_ After all…  _ he _ wasn’t the one dusting them. It was the other ones. They were the bad guys. You  _ hated  _ them.  _ They _ did this to your brother. _

 

_ It… it wasn’t his fault. _

 

_ It couldn’t be. He was all you had left. Grandma was gone, now. _

 

_ Humans were dumb, anyway. Their biology was stupid and fragile. _

 

_ Like the dumb, stupid, fragile human currently seated in your living room. Next to that bag. _

 

_ Cam wasn’t here. _

 

_ He looked at you. From your disgusted expression, back to the bag it was trained on. _

 

_ He laughed.  _ That used to be a monster and he  _ laughed _ .

 

_ He dipped his fingers into the bag, pulling out some of the deceptively shimmery and magical looking substance. You knew what it felt like on your bones. _

 

_ Chalky. _

 

_ Dead. _

 

_ He licked his fingers, sniggering at your face,  _ “c’mon, try it… ‘s real tasty…”

 

You didn’t know what else to do.

 

You ran.

 

\--------

 

_ *fuck _ .

 

Stretch was, uh, kind of freaking out.

 

Reason being, well, he lost you. And even though it wasn’t  _ really _ his fault, Sans (his brother Sans), was going to be  _ super  _ angry. Like, pissed.

 

Oh, ya, the other Sans, too, probably.

 

_ *… still not my fault. _

 

How was he supposed to know that a few pranks were going to end up like this??

 

Okay, he could understand being freaked out about the whole ‘by spiders, of spiders’ crap, especially in a universe where that probably wasn’t a thing, but the rest?

 

_ *simple teleportation prank? hilarious. there was no need for her to get so aggressive with me. _

 

_ *finger tapping? i mean, c’mon, grow some thicker skin, nyeheheh… _

 

_ *eh… nyeh… _

 

The last thing he expected you to do was  _ run _ .

 

Especially right out of the restaurant - leaving him to pay by himself. Something that slightly upset him, but he figured it wasn’t worth incurring Muffet’s rage.

 

… She didn’t seem that pleased that he made a girl cry and run out of her place of business, either.

 

Now, though, was the hard part - actually  _ finding _ you.

 

He figured the easiest way to about it was to just ask around to see if anyone saw you making a speedy exit.

 

Shouldn’t be too hard considering you, too, are a skeleton and pretty easily identified.

 

During the time it took to find you, though, he had a bit of time for… reflecting.

 

About why you’d upset him with your sparks of magic, earlier.

 

Ever since you’d gotten dropped off in this backwards universe, you’d been sweet and pretty funny - good company.

 

You always laughed at his puns and never rejected even some of his bolder flirts (although he wasn’t completely sure if you registered them as flirts). His brother would have told him to stop being so childish when he got into a laughing fit over something dumb, but not you - at times when it seemed that everybody else in that stupid lodge had a stick up their skeleton ass, you were so amazingly goofy.

 

Gross and dirty jokes threw you into laughing fits similar to his, and you never minded slight teasing or dishing some back.

 

_ Sometimes he found  _ himself _ being the flustered one. _

 

And while all the others were out working or being ‘social’ or something, you offered entertaining company.

 

Which is why he was 99.999% sure that Sans hadn’t given you ‘the talk’ - or really, just threatening any new comers not to fuck things up - mostly due to how freely you spoke and interacted with the others and this universe.

 

Something he’d been previously grateful for seeing as it might have made you more reserved.

 

_ *how different would she be if vanilla had laid down the law? _

 

… now, he wasn’t so sure if Sans had made the right choice.

 

Sure, you  _ seemed  _ nice, but the way you’d summoned an intense amount of magic in a fraction of a second…

 

_ The intent behind the magic nearly gave him whiplash….  _

 

The image of purple light surrounding you as your left eye lit up in a bright ring of lavender and the chip on your eye glowing as well…

 

He probably found it more beautiful than he should.

 

_ *like a goddess... _

 

Especially since he could feel that all of that attack magic had been focused on  _ him _ .

 

_ *toriel’s beard, it was a  _ prank!

 

Why would you be versed  _ at all _ in attack magic if you came from a universe on the surface? You didn’t need to capture humans, nor did you say anything about going into the military or any sort of guard.

 

It would be like humans in this universe being trained for a militia for no reason, before the monsters surfaced.

 

… so, ya, he was suspicious.

 

And you didn’t make it any better after he’d literally just been  _ tapping his fingers _ on the table. And, sure, he’d provoked you - he could admit that, but you’d been so…  _ angry _ .

 

Fuck ‘misophonia’, that level of random aggression was characteristic of having LV.

 

Unfortunately, you being a monster, would  _ definitely _ know if he tried to CHECK you.

 

He didn't know what to think. Of course he didn’t  _ want _ you to be some murderous maniac - that would be a huge bummer considering he really took a shine to you in the week you’d been at the lodge - having a female and another person who wasn’t a version of him or his brother was honestly refreshing.

 

… at the same time, you’d obviously had a rough past if scars you bore were any indication.

 

_ *i even gave her a damn nickname over the chip in her tooth _

 

His thoughts were stopped when he heard sniffling coming from an alley off to the side. His skull whipped in that direction, and suddenly his magic which had been sweeping the area picked up on your signature.

 

When Stretch finally turned the corner and saw you curled up with your knees to your chest, head buried in your arms, he couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt wash over him.

 

Even more so when your skull shot up presumably at the sound of his footsteps and he could see how droopy your left eye socket was - evidence of the injury you’d inflicted on yourself.

 

What made him feel even worse, though, was that his first thought was cynical and accusatory.

 

_ *anxiety and intense emotional fits are also symptoms of high LV. _

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uuuhhhhhhggghhhhh...
> 
> stretch feels so ooc for this chapter (had trouble verbalizing his emotions and thought processes) (he dun be a mean boi), i might have to go back and rewrite it later......
> 
> next chapter has lots of alternating povs, though, so i'm hoping to refine characterization then!!
> 
> also coming up is the sansi bonding chapters! which shouldn't be as angsty..... or will they ;) (seriously, this plot keeps coming up out of nowhere and i don't know what to doooo)


	10. stretch gets scolded because he acted like a douche bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ........... fall out of what happened with stretch.
> 
> ..... he's a very sorry skeleton.

 

 

You woke up in your own bed.

 

Well, not the one from your universe, but the one that had been assigned to you whenever you’d first landed in the lodge.

 

… this was kind of concerning to you, considering you didn’t remember exactly how.

 

The last thing you recalled from yesterday the stabbing pain from accidentally shoving your hand too far into your socket. This, of course, prompted you to inspect the damage by lightly tracing your phalanges over the previously droopy area…

 

… but it was fine.

 

Something weird was going on. Sleep healed, yeah, but not  _ that _ fast. Especially not whenever you weren’t in a good mental capacity for healing.

 

The briefest hint of a memory floated past your eye sockets - a skeleton - much, much taller than you mumbling words of apology and comfort as green magic encompassed your skull.

 

Deja vu.

 

Must just be an old memory from when Cam healed you that one time.

 

You looked to the side, spotting a hastily written note on your dresser.

 

_ chip, _

 

_ took you home from muffet’s - healed your eye. _

 

_ i’m not very good at healing, though, so i left some pain medicine, too. _

 

_ sorry. _

 

The last word had been erased and rewritten multiple times (settling on a permanent erasure), and it didn't do anything to make you any less confused.

 

Suddenly, the memory of what occurred at the cafe flooded your mind and sickened you once again.

 

_ “By Spiders, Of Spiders” _

 

You were thankful you didn’t take a bite out of that donut or a sip from the drink before you knew.

 

How… how could the government -  _ the king and queen _ allow this?

 

Was it so corrupt here? Was it just  _ normal _ to bake dust into your food?

 

… If so, is it possible that the skeletons you were living with had LV? How high?

 

Neglecting the pain pill seated by the letter on your dresser, you maneuvered yourself out of bed and slipped on your house slippers before heading downstairs.

 

… wait… you were still wearing your clothes from yesterday… but not your shoes…

 

… and Stretch is the one who put you into bed…

 

… which means he must have taken off your shoes…

 

… which means he saw your socks!

 

If yesterday couldn’t get anymore embarrassing…

 

Electing to ignore the steadily growing blush as you played out what must have happened yesterday in your mind (which involved a not-at-all-realistic scene where Stretch was slowly slipping off your boots -  _ Stars, woman, you’re supposed to be angry with him! _ ) - you began your descent of the two stairways that separates you from the kitchen.

 

Taking a quick peek at a calendar that sat besides Slim’s room, you saw that he would be out at the library until after noon, both Papyrus and Blue were working, and, well, actually - that was it.

 

Stretch, Red and Sans should be home all day.

 

You tried to quell the growing happiness inside of your rib cage by reasoning that they might have other, non-work things to do today and you shouldn’t get your hopes up.

 

Plus, things were still weird with Stretch - you don’t remember ever making up after that disastrous argument with him.

 

Was he still angry with you? Did he still think that you might want to harm him on purpose?

 

Your mood was dampened by the thougt, until that excited, happy feeling that you’d stamped down earlier returned with a vengeance when you reached the base of the stairs.

 

Both Sans and Red were sitting around, watching some alien documentary on TV.

 

So they  _ were _ home today! Or, at least they were for the morning.

 

“Good morning!” you greeted cheerfully, moving over to stand next to the couch they were sitting on.

 

“mornin’, kid.” Sans greeted back, offering a tired grin. The ‘bags’ under his eye sockets hadn’t cleared up. You wondered if he got any sleep last night.

 

… well, he definitely didn’t change his attire, you could tell - his current outfit seemed to be the only thing you’d seen him wear since you started living here - white t-shirt, basketball shorts and a blue hoodie - in different states of stained and wrinkled depending on how long it had been since he washed them.

 

“shhhhhhh… i’m tryna fuckin’ watch sumthin’ here...” Red semi-scolded, pointing to the TV. You resisted the urge to roll your eye lights in their sockets. How could you forget what a nerd Red was?

 

“You don’t  _ actually _ believe that stuff, do you?”

 

Without taking his focus off the screen, Red blushed, a heavy red covering his cheekbones, hugging the pillow he was holding closer to his chest. “n-no… ‘s jus’ interestin’ fer, uh, history…”

 

You didn’t even have the chance to tease him further as your own skull was soon covered in the color of your magic.

 

… your ‘stomach’ growled.

 

How unfortunate and embarrassing that even skeleton monsters have to deal with the unwanted reminder to put some food in your body.

 

“ohmystars”  Red exclaimed, shooting you a look, “i  _ said _ i’m tryna watch sumthin’??” Aww, he was all red and angry with puffy cheekbones… cute.

 

… But… he must have gotten the growlies, too, every once in awhile and known that you can’t really  _ control _ them. You chalked it up to him being irritated.

 

“don’t getcher socks in a twist, red, can'tcha see you’re  _ alienating _ chip over here?” Sans snickered, rolling off of his position on the couch and onto the floor for no apparent reason.

 

… Or, at least, it wasn’t apparent until Red made an aim to kick where Sans had previously been not seconds ago with an exasperated growl. “shudd _ up _ , leave, get out, i fuckin’ hate you y’vanilla fucker, pain in my ass, y’whine t’me, say ‘reeeed, you always kick me out when yer watchin’ tv’ -  _ this  _ is why - go away!”

 

Sans snickers grew into chuckles which gradually increased to full blown laughter as Red continued his verbal assault on his blue counterpart.

 

When a few more attempts of physical assault were made, Sans rolled further away, behind the couch, then suddenly appeared beside you.

 

Startled, you jumped - but luckily didn’t have the same reaction that you did with Stretch. Now  _ that _ would have been a real nightmare. From what you could tell, Sans was the head boss in the house - whether it was because he was the most powerful, owned the property or just because it was ‘his’ universe, you didn’t know, but…

 

… you felt like Stretch freezing you out was a much more light than what Sans would do if he felt like you were a threat.

 

“Jeez, you all have to stop with that teleportation stuff, it freaks me out…” You grumbled.

 

“shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Red aggressively shushed from the couch. The harshness of his tone almost made you flinch, but you hid it. Thankfully, neither Sans noticed.

 

“better get used t’it, kid - heh, let’s get outta here ‘fore good ol’ red  _ star _ ts to throw things.. heheh.” Sans nudged you in the direction of the kitchen, choosing to lead you via your joined hands - wait, when did he get a hold of your hand?

 

Once the two of you were in the kitchen and you were properly flustered by the bone-on-bone contact of your joined hands, Sans let go and headed towards the fridge.

 

“got any preference, ‘r you okay with me heatin’ up some p’sgetti?”

 

“Breakfast spaghetti? Also, P’sgetti?”

 

“yup, p’sgetti. got sum breakfast p’sgetti, lunch p’sgetti, dinner p’sgetti and even sum dessert p’sgetti if you’re inta that.”

 

… “Yeah, okay, I’ll have some spaghetti.” It was terrible, but you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday’s half sandwich.

 

… If you had known you wouldn’t eat anything for a long time, you might have pleaded for some extra cash for a vending machine.

 

Patiently, you took a seat at the table, idly tracing the patterns of the wooden swirls with your phalanges. “Sans?” You hummed.

 

“what’s on your mind, bud?”

 

“... was… was Stretch… was he - angry? Yesterday? When he got home, I mean.”

 

“why’re y’askin’ about the ashtray, dolly?” Red asked casually as he walked into the kitchen, no longer looking irritated. The small part inside of you that had found his anger unsettling calmed.

 

“ain’t worried about missing your show, red?” Sans teased.

 

“fuck off!” Red snarled, momentarily forgetting your presence, evidence by the way of how his face paused mid glare as he once again caught sight of you. He blushed a little and scratched at the back of his skull, looking more like he was addressing you than Sans, “i c’n prolly jus’ find it on youtube ‘r sumthin’...”

“We - Stretch and I, that is, had a bit of an argument, ah, it’s probably my fault.” You admitted, bringing the conversation topic back to the reason for your question, looking away and turtling slightly into your sweater - which, um, ya, definitely needs to be washed.

 

You didn’t have Sans’ ability to wear clothes for more than one day in a row and get away with it.

 

“i can almost one hundred percent guarantee you that it’s him.” Sans replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

 

“yeah, dolly, he c’n be a bit of’a  _ ash _ hole, even compared t’me.” Red quipped.

 

Before you could even giggle at his joke, footsteps sounded from the kitchen entrance as the skeleton in question walked in, slouching and avoiding eye contact with you. This didn’t bother you much as you were doing pretty much the same.

 

Red looked at Stretch, to the way he wasn’t looking at you, to you and your similar behavior. Then back to Stretch. Then to you. Then to Stretch, a confused look on his skull.

 

And Sans… Sans had somehow fallen asleep while sitting on the counter…

 

“huh…” Red enunciated, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he observed.

 

“G-Good morning, Stretch!” You exclaimed, if only to stop Red’s psychoanalysis of your behavior.

 

If he dug too deep, well, let’s say Stretch’s reaction to some of your deeper problems hadn’t encouraged you too much about opening up to the boys. Plus, what if he took Stretch’s side on this?

 

The thought of goofy, funny Red icing you out similar to how Stretch had sent _ chills _ down your  _ spine _ …

 

… another pun?! Two?!

 

“...” Stretch didn’t respond, stirring that feeling of hurt and anger in you once again. So he couldn’t even be bothered to talk with you anymore? Not even in front of the others?

 

Red noticed your distress at Stretch’s behavior, and caught your eye lights, bouncing his ‘eyebrows’ a few times with a nod in Stretch’s direction.

 

_ want me ta talk t’him? _

 

You looked back at Stretch, who was currently digging around in the fridge, pulling out another Tupperware, which a sticky note with a clumsily written ‘ _ pasgetti _ ’ stuck on the top.

 

…

 

Turning back to Red, you shook your head vigorously, even going as far to make an ‘X’ with your arms over your rib cage.

 

_ No! _

 

In the background, you vaguely registered Stretch putting the Tupperware in the microwave, shutting the door loudly enough to get attention but not loud enough to be constituted as ‘slamming’.

 

… you and Red both ignored him, caught up in your silent conversation.

 

Red tutted softly, shaking his head as well, but in a softer, slightly disappointed manner.

 

_ imunna talk t’him anyway _

 

“ _ Don’t! _ ” You hissed loudly, forgetting that the whole reason for having a silent conversation was that it was, well,  _ silent _ .

 

Your exclamation actually got Stretch to look up at the two of you and for Sans to slightly jolt awake, giving the three of you a confused look as he rubbed at his eye socket with the back of his hand.

 

“wha?” He asked, looking between Red (giving Stretch a confused look), you (sweating, hoping that Stretch didn’t hate you anymore than he probably did at your random outburst) and Stretch (also sweating, very obviously avoiding eye contact with you).

 

He looked at Red. Then you. Then Stretch. Then You. Then Red. Then you again, then back to Stretch, then finally back at you.

 

“... huh.” The exact same tongue click that Red had done.

 

… Sometimes the similarities between the two versions of Sans were just plain hilarious, but you digress.

 

Red, ignoring Sans, kept his gaze on Stretch, “i think we need t’have a lil’ chat, pal.” He said, meandering closer to the taller skeleton, then seizing his arm.

 

“... just trying to eat some spaghetti over here.” Stretch defended, glancing in your direction quickly before looking back at Red. There was a hint of an orange tint to his skull - too bright for you to have imagined it.

 

… Was he… embarrassed? To be ‘scolded’ by Red in front of you?

 

Some of the irritation you’d been feeling melted slightly. Sure, he’d been a down right dick to you yesterday, but it was easy to see his actions as caused by his naturally immature personality - you’d seen it shine through whenever he told a dirty joke or played a stupid prank.

 

Maybe… maybe he’d just gotten defensive yesterday and didn’t know how to resolve it? Maybe he didn’t  _ really  _ hate you and was just upset with himself?

 

…  _ Or not _ , you thought as you watched his slight blush disappear as he yanked his arm away from Red. Displeased by this, Red made another motion to grab Stretch (“oh no you don’t, y’little marrow sucker…”), and the moment his hand closed around the taller skeleton, they were gone.

 

… Teleportation. Must be useful. It was also a lot less surprising when you were watching it happen.

 

“wow. that was dramatic. if you don’t mind, i’m just gonna p’s _ gett _ out of here” Sans commented a few moments later, pushing himself off the counter he was sitting on and heading for the arch that separated the kitchen from the living room.

 

“W-Wait!” You called after Sans, reaching out slightly almost as if to catch him.

 

He turned, a confused look covering his skull. Flushing slightly at the boldness of your actions, you let your arm drop back to your side, avoiding looking Sans directly in the eye lights.

 

“uh…. yeah, kid?”

 

“W-Where are you going?” Oof, clingy much? “I, I mean - we haven’t really gotten the chance to hang out much - if it’s okay, can we… hang out? Maybe?”

 

The amount of relief you felt when he cracked an earnest grin, the bags under his sockets looking less prominent if only for a moment, was immeasurable.

 

“heh,” was that a bit of blush you saw on his cheekbones? Was this morning just an especially blushy time for skeletons? “‘m jus’ gonna be workin’ in the lab for a bit… math an’ stuff. y’can come if you’d like to… but, eh…. ‘s prolly not gonna be too interestin’.”

 

“That’s okay!” Hoping you didn’t sound  _ too _ eager, you continued, scratching at the ridge of your nasal bone. “I can help? Like, check your equations and stuff?”

 

“you sure?” Sans blinked, looking a little surprised. “know anythin’ about all that quantum garbage?”

 

You laughed, “Are you kidding? Dings would be screeching wherever he is if I didn’t at  _ least _ know the basics.”

 

Sans grinned back, blush disappearing as his confidence grew, “‘kay, but’cha gotta be wearin’ proper lab clothes.”

 

Quirking a brow bone at him, you inquired,  “‘Proper Lab Clothes?’”

 

Looking at the way Sans was dressed, you weren’t sure what he meant.

 

“p’jamas. nothin’ like sum comfy attire t’get the brain juices flowin’.”

 

Oh My Stars.

 

“ _ Pft, _ never say that again, that is so… ugh…”

 

Winking, Sans saluted you, “can do, kid … uh, meet me down there when you’re ready?” With that, he disappeared. Definitely less scary whenever you see it happen.

 

Laughing to yourself, you briskly traveled to your room - maybe you wouldn’t wear pajamas, but you definitely needed something clean… and comfy. Maybe you weren’t as shameless as Sans, but you weren’t about to get all dolled up when your only company would be a lazy pun-obsessed skeleton and a machine.

 

You settled on a soft off white sweater and some leggings, making sure to also put on some softer socks (Hey, you just wanted to feel pretty and comfy! It’s not like you were going to seduce Sans or something with fuzzy socks of all things…). Of course they were going to be covered by your slippers, so it’s not like he would notice or anything…

 

On your way down, you heard muffled talking coming from Red’s room, and your mind connected the dots. Stretch and Red must be having that ‘talk’. You quietly snuck past the room, not wanting to be heard.

 

… you had a strong inclination that the talk was about you, and despite how much you wanted to know what they were saying, you also know that eavesdropping could land you in some pretty hot water.

 

Stars know it has before.

 

You banished the thought from your mind as you slunk into the basement lab, seeing Sans turned away from you and hunched over the desk you’d originally been laid on when you’d entered this universe.

 

Instead of a skeleton, though, the desk was covered in paperwork.

 

… Time to get to work, you supposed.

 

\-------

 

Red was, for lack of better terms, pissed.

 

Stretch was seated on his bed while he, himself, leaned on his desk, looking down at the obviously shameful skeleton before him. He appreciated the way that this gave him a height advantage over the guy that was usually taller.

 

“so _ , yer tellin’ me that because you felt a little pissy, you shunned her, used her pet peeve, no,  _ worse _ , her  _ trigger _ against her, made a dumb fuckin’ joke about her little spidey friends gettin’ baked inta her food then let her run away to have a  _ panic attack _ in an  _ alley _?! _ ”

 

“h-hey!” Stretch defended _ (childishly, although for a version of his brother, Red couldn’t be too surprised)  _ “she almost attacked me!”

 

Red made a mock understanding face and nodded his head calmly, “oh ya, let’s not ferget that the thing that made ya pissy was that she had a  _ bad reaction _ t’one of yer  _ stupid _ pranks!”

 

Stretch flinched at this accusation, and Red felt strangely satisfied at the gesture.

 

_ *good. fer wantin’ to be wanna th’ ‘big boys’ he sure is fuckin’ bratty _

 

“you weren’t there…  h-her magic was  _ suffocating! _ ”

 

Dragging a skeletal hand down his face, Red let out an exasperated sigh, “imma stop you there ‘cause  _ one _ you sound more perverted than me, i mean  _ come on _ , an’  _ two _ did she attack you? didja even see  _ one  _ attack materialize?”

 

“no…” Stretch muttered in a frustrated manner, obviously embarrassed for being called out so bluntly.

 

“right. so how were  _ any _ of yer actions afta that justifiable, then?”

 

“... they weren’t…” Stretch admitted. Not a moment later, though, the sucked in a breath and his shoulders reared up in the way that Red knew meant he was about to make a stupid argument.

 

_ *again. _

 

“i have a theory, though - “

 

_ *this kid an’ his fuckin’ theories… _

 

_ *if his universe weren’t so fuckin’ backwards maybe gaster woulda slapped sum sense inta him _

 

“i think she might have LV.”

 

Red nearly had to slap a hand over his face to keep from laughing. What the hell made him think that? You were the smallest, cutest and funniest thing Red had ever had the pleasure of chatting with, and it wasn’t just because he was from a universe where you could get dusted for looking at someone wrong.

 

Discouraged by Red’s obvious amusement, Stretch faltered, but continued, “she has some of the symptoms - the way her magic was so ready to attack, her anxiety and being easily triggered - “

 

“ _ or, _ ” Red started, getting fed up with Stretch’s assumptions, “all’o these  _ ‘symptoms’  _ as you so call ‘em, could be ptsd. y’know what she told me on‘er first day here? i asked about those chips on’er face that you find  _ so  _ endearin’ - “

 

Stretch listened, angry though intrigued at the way Red had cut him off.

 

“- an’ she told me that she gott’em ‘cause some asshole slugged her right in the face with sum brass knuckles. wanna know sumthin’ else?”

 

Stretch gulped, not saying anything, but Red took it as an invitation to continue.

 

“‘chippy’ told  _ me _ that she was still in stripes!” Red laughed in a mirthless manner, ”now if that don’t cause  _ sum _ lastin’ issues,  _ then _ i’d be worried.”

 

Stretch continued to be silent, although Red could tell that guilt was washing over him.

 

_ *let’s see how much more i can get this kid t’sweat _

 

“i dun’ even  _ wanna _ know whatever else ya dragged up by tellin’ her what was in that donut.”

 

…

 

“nothin’ t’say? i’ll give y’an  _ example  _ then - back where i’m from, folks used t _ ’eat _ raw dust from a fresh kill t’get some extra EXP from it. sell it, too.  _ real _ expensive shit.”

 

Stretch suddenly stood up, fists clenched tightly and face a mask of rage.

 

“i get it, okay!? i -” After his initial outburst, Stretch sat back down heavily on Red’s bed, holding his skull in his hands. He continued in a quiet, broken sounding manner.

 

“i fucked up, i get it… but… but i was so sure…” Red wasn’t sure, but he thought that Stretch could have started to cry.

 

_ *fuck. now i gotta comfort him. boss can be an’ ass but at least he never cried... _

 

“look, kid, we all make mistakes. yah, y’took it too far. like,  _ way _ to fuckin’ far, but i can tell ya right now, she ain’t got any LV in that SOUL o’hers.”

 

Stretch looked up and Red could see that,  _ yup _ , he was definitely crying.

 

_ *oh, fuck me. let’s hope that blue piece o’shit doesn’t find out… _

 

“h-how do you  _ know _ ? what if something  _ happens _ ?”

 

“... look at me.” Red said, sighing internally. Stretch kept his focus on Red as he tapped his left eye socket. “‘m the judge, ‘member? i  _ promise _ you that she ain’t no killer.”

 

Stretch nodded his head, seemingly composing himself.

 

“now get outta here, y’sniveling ashtray, i ain’t’cher brother, go sob t’sumone else.”

 

Stretch scowled at Red, furiously wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his hoodie. “whatever,” he muttered as he borderline stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

 

“what a fuckin’ kid…” Red growled to himself. Stretch was like that. Since his universe was swapped he inherited some of the qualities of a Sans, and he was always thinking that it somehow entitled him to make harsh opinions and judgments.

 

Even Stretch’s brother inherited this universe’s Papyrus’ push over and people pleaser tendencies, which is why he’d probably never been scolded in his damn life before coming here.

 

Whatever. It’s not like he’s  _ his _ brother or anything.

 

\---------

 

_ *fuck red _ .

 

Stretch grumbled to himself as he laid down heavily on his bed. He hated that Red had seen him cry. Hated that he was still crying.

 

_ *he’s either too drunk to give a fuck or up on his self righteous horse. _

 

_ *’i’m the judge, i know everything!’ _

 

Despite his internal mocking of Red’s words, though, they struck a painful chord inside of Stretch.

 

He felt so weird in this universe.

 

Even if this was, for some reason, the ‘main timeline’, everything felt weird. It was all switched up.

 

He had some of the qualities of what was generally accepted to be ‘Papyrus-Like’ and some that were supposedly ‘Sans-Like’. In his opinion, he’d inherited the worst of both worlds.

 

Didn’t believe him?

 

He was cynical, non-trusting and lazy like a Sans but somehow ‘childish’, sarcastic and outspoken like a Papyrus. What’s worse is that his brother’s in the same boat - but miraculously got all the good traits.

 

Like a Papyrus he’s energetic, forgiving and sweet, and like a Sans he’s naturally smart in both math and logic, charismatic and witty.

 

He’d always thought of his brother as cool for all of these traits, but the longer he was here, the more he messed up - the more _ jealous _ he got. Yeah. Another bad ‘Sans’ trait.

 

One which his brother either didn’t inherit or wore  _ way _ better than Stretch.

 

Stretch had all the bad qualities and none of the endearing; he couldn’t ease his laziness with some sort of easy charisma nor his sarcasm with an aura of genuineness.

 

_ *and now i’ve gone and fucked up again - big time _

 

_ *i’d be lucky to have chip even  _ look _ at me after this… _

 

_ *she’s probably hanging out with either sans or red right now, who would  _ never _ accuse her of having LV because they’re almighty and can see SOULs _

 

_ *what bullshit. _

 

Yeah. Yet another ‘Sans’ thing he didn’t get in on.

 

At least Blue didn’t, either, apparently that was the result of some experiments Gaster had run on them - and since his Gaster was all goody-two-shoes, guess who missed out -

 

-Well, he shouldn’t say it like  _ that _ , per say… almost made it sound like he was  _ upset _ his dad wasn’t a complete dick.

 

_ *ugh _

 

_ *after all this, i still need to apologize _

 

Stretch thought of the way that he’d found Chip’s chipped tooth cute, how he’d wondered how she’d gotten it.

 

_ *i thought maybe she fell at the playground or had a jawbreaker or… or…  _

 

_ *not… _

 

_ *not anything like that… _

 

Next, he thought about what Red had told him. He hoped to whatever greater being or deity out there that it wasn’t the same in your universe. Not only was that sickening… it also put his ‘joke’ into a whole new light.

 

_ *she grew up on the surface, though, why… _

 

_ *why would it still be so violent? _

 

Whatever the answer, he hoped to find out. Despite his previous attitude, he wanted to become someone that Chip could confide in, someone who she could tell her worries to and ease her mind. Someone who could care for her and maybe even… maybe even be cared for by her, as well?

 

Ah, another trait he got - but this one was from both Sans  _ and  _ Papyrus. Arguably he might even be able to say it was his own.

 

_ *i’m sappy as hell _

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> early update because this is a busy week for me!
> 
> hey guys! was gonna edit some errors in the work this weekend but i got busy and barely had time to write an update so i'll be trying to do that throughout this week.
> 
> also i'm writing this one shot thingy and it's called 'you chose', so if you want some more of my writing, look into that! i only have one part up but i'm gonna be writing some alternate endings and more after math :)!!


	11. nightmare after nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... someone's having bad dreams...

 

 

Everything was too big. Spaced too far apart.

 

It was both too bright and too dark at once, like Sans was under scrutiny of interrogation lights and the lights cast an eerie shadow at the edges of his vision to symbolize his anxiety.

 

Why was he anxious?

 

His brother and his father were at home. They were in the living room with him. He shouldn’t be anxious.

 

For some reason his brother was the only thing in the room that wasn’t too big. His brother was so, so small, like he could fit in Sans’ small hand. He was also younger, like a toddler. Dressed in an orange and yellow striped onesie.

 

Why was Sans small, too? Not as small as his brother, certainly not _that_ small.

 

But Sans was smaller than usual. With stubby legs and fingers and arms that couldn’t reach as far as he needed to.

 

He felt incapable.

 

Weak.

 

More so than he hadn’t felt in years.

 

A knock came at the door. His father stood up, legs long long long…

 

They felt like they traveled up into the sky, so far up that Sans couldn’t see his father’s face.

 

His shoes made exaggerated thuds on the floor, like each step would send cracks sprawling into the ground and opening it so that the underground would swallow Sans and his family to an all new low.

 

His brother jumped off the couch, still tiny and young. He followed their father’s steps, nearly toppling over with every step.

 

Sans wanted to scoop his brother up into his hands and keep him from the thunderous steps that seemed to be rocking his world, but he was stuck.

 

He wanted to call out to his father, to tell him that whoever was behind the door was _bad_.

 

But his voice, too, was stuck.

 

He was doomed to watch as the _demon_ behind the door would come in and ruin everything.

 

“Who could it be at this hour?” His father drawled, voice proper as usual but lacking the tired quality it’d had as they’d grown older.

 

Or had it always been there and Sans had never wanted to admit it?

 

Papyrus finally caught up to their father once he stopped at the door, latching onto the pant leg of his dress pants and pulling himself up onto the top of his shoe.

 

 _Nobody Good._ Sans thought.

 

The door opened, making an exaggerated creaking noise as the cold of Snowdin flooded in, icing Sans’ bones and causing a chill to settle over his bones.

 

Behind the door was another huge figure.

 

Their shape was adorned in a black cloak, allowing not one feature to be seen.

 

Finally, Sans was no longer glued in place, but his legs willed him to the door, closer to the figure. He involuntarily looked up.

 

They had no face. Only an empty, empty void that stared back at Sans.

 

“Why are you here, River?” His father asked in a strained, wary tone of voice, scooping down the miniature Papyrus on his shoe and holding him closer. He felt his father’s hand rest on his shoulder, and instantly he was comforted.

 

Of course his father would protect them.

 

“An eye for an eye or whatever it is they say,” The voice responded, unreasonably smooth for its appearance.

 

“That’s going to be rather difficult considering skeletons don’t have eyes.” Gaster joked, trying to defuse the atmosphere.

 

It didn’t work.

 

“You have a debt to repay for a promise you made that day.”

 

His father said nothing for a good while before he spoke again, “What is this? Some sort of human fairy tale? You’re not going to try and take my first born, are you?”

 

“... I find no more pleasure in this than you.” The thing, _River_ , replied.

 

First born. That was Sans.

 

“You can’t have him! By Toriel’s beard, he’s still in _Stripes_!” Gaster admonished, pulling Sans behind him.

 

“He’s smart. Capable. It’s one or the other. Inescapable.”

 

At this Sans’ father clutched Mini-Papyrus closer to his chest, and Sans felt himself shrinking down to Papyrus’ size.

 

“Your rhymes are inconsistent. If you’re going to do this, then at least stick to it.”

 

His father cleared his throat after another awkward silence, “No. I refuse.” But even as his father spoke, Papyrus began to grow and mature before Sans’ eyes.

 

At some point his brother was no longer in his father’s hands, but now beside Sans, outnumbering his height by many multiplicities.

 

Gaster was no longer there.

 

Papyrus walked towards the figure.

 

“NO!” Sans called after him, reaching to grab him, but it was no use, he was too small and Papyrus was already gone.

 

The door was closing, but before it shut, Sans used his reduced size to slip through the crack.

 

But he wasn’t in Snowdin.

 

He was on the street, tall brick buildings all around, trash on the streets. He almost tripped a few times.

 

He continued to run, not knowing what else to do. All he wanted was his brother back.

 

He was taller, now, thinner and wearing different clothes.

 

Thick smog clung to his bones, his shoes were threadbare and absorbed no shock from the slap of concrete against his feet. His knees ached from the shock.

 

He didn’t even notice until moments later that the sound of heavy footprints, a group of them was following him.

 

They were going to catch up.

 

He needed to go _faster_.

 

No longer was the image of his brother in his head the lanky, lazy and smoke-smelling skeleton he knew, but it was a different monster.

 

A skeleton, still, but less tall. He looked cleaner, dressed in dark jeans and a graphic tee for some band that he had memories of but felt disconnected from. His limbs were not as thin as Papyrus’, but were still skinnier than Sans’. His skull was rounded, like someone that Sans thought he should know (yet somehow different - more perfect? Not in a better way, per say, less… less damaged).

 

No… wait…

 

His - Her brother, her brother looked like here. Some people told her that they could be twins if they were born closer in age.

 

She was proud of the resemblance; her brother Cambria was smart and strong. She wanted to be like him one day.

 

Her thoughts had brought her out of her task, and she felt the back of her jacket get grabbed, and she was pulled into an alley.

 

“Finally caught ya, y’little fucker! Time to show you what happens when you yellow bellies wearing your stupid roses come into _our_ territory!” A female voice cackled, slamming Sans, no, who was Sans? Slammed her against the wall of the alley, looking into her eye sockets with her own hate filled jelly orbs.

 

They’d always grossed ~~Sans~~ out. Who wants fluid filled spheres in their face? They looked way too fragile.

 

The human’s breath stank. ~~Sans~~ gagged.

 

“A-Ari - She’s a kid!” One of the others hissed.

 

The woman, Ari, looked back over ~~Sans~~. Her eyes raked down the purple and white striped sweater.

 

“Fuck. You’re right. Doesn’t change what I gotta do, though,”

 

“Ari!” The same kid exclaimed. No. He wasn’t a kid. ~~Sans~~ was a kid. He was a teen, probably around the same age as Cambria.

 

_Cambria! He would find me! He promised to always protect me!_

 

“I have to, Dal, what’s that gonna tell ‘em when I let her go? It’s fucked up, but they’ll just start getting kids younger and younger if they think we won’t punish it.”

 

“S-send her off with a message, then, like a warning!”

 

“My fist in her face is enough warning.”

 

“P-Please, no!” ~~Sans~~ begged. Her voice sounded so small.

 

“Shut up, kid!” Ari roared, clutching the collar of ~~Sans’~~ shirt harder.

 

Her face felt in to a guilty conflict after.

 

“Keep yer eyes closed, hon. It’ll hurt less. I know you monsters get hurt real easy, so I’ll go light. Just enough to make them regret sendin’ a kid out here.”

 

Ari pulled her fist back, and ~~Sans~~ caught the glint of metal on her knuckles.

 

_“I find no more pleasure in this than you…”_

 

“I don’t like doin’ this, I hope you know.”

 

Dal looked on, nearly crying.

 

“Ari…” he whispered.

 

But ~~Sans~~ didn’t close her eyes. She looked on, something akin to determination igniting in her bones.

 

Ari sighed. “Have it your way, kid, just know this is gonna hurt like a bitch. You got pretty wide sockets, don’t go blamin’ me if my fist ends up punching a hole through your skull.”

 

Even as she sounded annoyed, ~~Sans~~ couldn’t deny that she looked… proud.

 

\--------------

 

“so. ready to do some math?” Sans asked, not turning around.

 

You stopped in your tracks, surprised that he’d managed to sense your presence without looking at you.

 

“I guess. Might be a little rusty, though. Haven’t been to math class in a few weeks.” You joked.

 

Sans tsked, “you didn’t strike me as the type to have truancy issues. more of a girl-next-door type, know what i mean?”

 

“Hey, that isn’t _true_ -ancy in the least!” You defended.

 

“tellin’ me your _bad t’ the bone_?”

 

“I’m a _bon_ afide cool kid.”

 

“your argument’s soundin’ a lil’ _bare bones_ there, kid, got any proof, ‘cause i can _see right through you_.”

 

You laughed, “ah, I give up! I’ve already used up all my skeleton puns in my own internal monologues, I have nothing original left. How do you guys do it?”

 

“nobody said you had to be original. my goal is to achieve the perfect timing.”

 

“Pfft. Sure. If perfect means you’re always late.”

 

“first of all, my comedic delivery is _very_ punctual, second, it’s the only exercise i get.”

 

“What?”

 

“ _running late.”_

 

You covered your face to avoid letting out a snort, managing to instead let out a groan of disappointment.

 

“You’re _right_. About the timing thing, not the exercise thing.”

 

“maybe, maybe not.”

 

Ugh. This skeleton. You couldn’t help but feel a swell of affection for his antics, though.

 

You definitely felt for Papyrus in this moment, though.

 

“Alright, goof, what can I help with?”

 

“first, grab a lab coat off the hook.”

 

You looked around, seeing the hook that Sans had told you about. You quickly grabbed one of the smaller coats and shoved your arms through the sleeves, buttoning it up in the middle.

 

“We aren’t going to be working with chemicals, right?”

 

“nope.”

 

“Then why the coats?”

 

“habit, or it just helps make this all feel more legitimate.”

 

You walked over to where Sans was standing, looking over his arm to see the crumpled papers he held. Wingdings. Gaster’s notes.

 

“Makes sense.” You whistled when you read a little of what was on the page.

 

“Oof. Big numbers. Lots of variables. Need help with writing the equation?”

 

He nodded his head, pointing to the board on the wall, it was one of those rolly flippy types that you’d only seen on tv.

 

Very old school, although you supposed this universe _was_ in the past…

 

You took a _spin_ with spinning the board (... you had a strong inclination to turn and tell Sans the pun you just made, but you decided to keep it to yourself… Stars knows he’d never end the pun ‘war’, even if you raised your proverbial white flag), seeing that the other side was empty.

 

Luckily, you found a good piece of chalk not to far away, and you picked it up to copy down the equation you’d seen on the paper.

 

Immediately, the texture of the chalk brought a nauseating feeling to your magic as it swirled around you uncertainty.

 

Reminded you of dust.

 

You dropped the stick of chalk like it’d burned you, kicking it away and wiping the small amount of reside on your coat.

 

Seeing the light off-white streaks on the surprisingly stark white coat sickened you further, so you unbuttoned it with shaking phalanges and tore the article of clothing off. You threw it in the same direction as the chalk, shaking.

 

Sans wasn’t oblivious, he watched you with concerned eye lights.

 

“kid?”

 

“M-mhm?” You replied, digging your phalanges into the soft fabric of your sweater.

 

_The sweater is soft and warm, feel the sweater, it’s okay, it’s okay…._

 

Sans was in your face in an instant, and in your state you couldn’t even tell if he’d walked or teleported over.

 

Either way, it startled you, and you couldn’t help the small burst of defensive magic that sent a shock wave through your body and fizzled angrily at Sans.

 

His hand, out reached as to comfort you, shirked back at the display of aggressive magic.

 

 _Not again, not again…_ You thought. Now Sans was going to hate you. Going to use your insecurities and fears against you.

 

You canceled your magic in an instant and cowered away from the comedic skeleton, shaking harder than before, bones rattling.

 

“Sorry, sorry…” you muttered.

 

\--------------

 

Sans knew you couldn’t see… you weren’t thinking right. He could see the panic in your eye lights, the way that you cowarded away like you were afraid he’d hurt you.

 

So he knew you couldn’t see the heart broken look on his face.

 

In truth, he knew that what had triggered you into this state was how you’d acted out with your magic. And, in truth, he couldn’t give less of a fuck.

 

Sure, in another time he might have gotten aggressive right back, made threats and _j u d g e d  y o u_.

 

Hell, he still didn’t trust Frisk at times even though he knew they were innocent. That it hadn’t been them.

 

So why did he feel more of an emotional connection to you? Why did he feel himself wanting to trust you?

 

All he knew was that you were a skeleton from another universe, taken in by Gaster after some (from what he could tell) pretty unfortunate past events.

 

He knew you didn’t have any LV or EXP, courtesy of being the judge, and yet still he was basing his flimsy decision to trust you off of some observations and one night the two of you had met up after having a nightmare.

 

But he _knew_ for a fact that you’d never hurt anybody in your life, and he _knew_ that you’d suffered abuse in the past, although not from who. The chips on your face spoke for themselves.

 

_*why do i want to… i want…._

 

_*i want to hurt whoever did that…_

 

_*why would they do that to her?_

 

He knew you grew up on a surface timeline. But he also knew that humans could be evil and that not even thousands of years together could change their tendencies.

 

Shaking his skull out of those thoughts, he approached you again, ignoring the defensive fizzling of your magic. It didn’t feel like much more than a buzzing on his hands. You had no intent to hurt him.

 

It helped to know that you weren’t trying to harm him.

 

When he finally made contact with your back, he started doing the soothing circles he had done when you’d had that nightmare - they’d always worked on him as a kid, so he took a gamble.

 

It worked the same the second time as it had the first, despite you being in a highly panicked state. Sans let out a breath of relief.

 

_*i was worried that might set her of more…_

 

Her breathing evened out after a few moments, turning from shallow and unpredictable to long and shuddering, until they were mostly back to what was accepted as normal. Her magic had also stopped buzzing, instead softly caressing Sans’ hand ( Sans had to fight off a blush despite it probably being unconscious).

 

“S-Sorry…” She stuttered out once more, leaning into Sans’ hand once she completely regained control of herself.

 

Sans felt conflicted.

 

At the same time as he wanted to hug and reassure you, he also felt this was an important and pivotal moment in your relationship. If he comforted you… he might get too close.

 

Too close for someone with secrets that could hurt you more to get to you.

 

But, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to be impersonal with you, couldn't bring himself to not care. Usually, he had no problem with summoning a healthy dose of apathy, but with you? He felt like watching you in this state and not doing anything would be akin to ripping his SOUL out and stomping on it.

 

“no need t’be sorry, kiddo, ‘s not your fault. should have known the chalk woulda been a bad idea… you mentioned dust an’ chalk after that nightmare…”

 

“B-but, I… I could have hurt you!” You exclaimed, looking up at Sans with big eye sockets, lights completely snuffed out. He didn’t like how it looked on you. You looked afraid.

 

You probably still were.

 

He shook his head, “na, you were just panickin’ - the only way i’da gotten hurt is if _i_ fucked up somehow and pushed you…”

 

You nodded in reluctant agreement, although he could tell you didn’t mean it.

 

You were still looking away as Sans asked his question.

 

“does your reaction right now… does that have anythin’ to do with why you were askin’ about stretch?”

 

You shrugged.

 

_*do i or do i not have to teach a lesson to that kid again?_

 

Stretch was known for being immature and childish - especially when he was upset. Sometimes the others (and him) forgot that he was still younger.

 

“Yes and no, I guess. A lot of other things happened yesterday that made me jumpy.”

 

Sans narrowed his eye sockets. He knew you wouldn’t tell him anymore on your own, and he didn’t want to push you anymore today.

 

_*definitely gonna have t’teach him a lesson_

 

“well, kid, let’s getcha back upstairs.”

 

You looked up, confused. “N-No? We still have work to do…”

 

Sans snorted, see? _This_ , the way you wore all of your thoughts on your sleeve, is why he found it hard to do anything but trust you.

 

There was just something different about you... but familiar at the same time. With the other versions of himself and his bro that had been pulled into this universe, there was always a strange foreignness about them that made them feel off. Like they didn't belong.

 

You didn't have that. You felt like you belonged here.

 

But… Just to be sure….

 

“kid?”

 

“Yes, Sans?”

 

“no hard feelings, but... ”

 

You waited. Sans didn’t know why he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t bear to threaten you and see you be scared of him again.

 

“i f  y o u . . . “

 

“i f  y o u . . . ”

 

He _couldn’t do it._

 

…

 

“if you don’t _blank-get_  your butt upstairs and under some blankets and relax, you’re gonna be a very sorry skeleton.”

 

You laughed. He liked it. Perhaps a little more than he should. Than he deserved

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, guys!
> 
> i feel a little bad that over half of this chapter is describing a dream,,,,,,, but at the same time it's important to the plot so TAKE IT! next week the chapter is WAY longer and a bit of an emotional roller coaster if i do say so myself!
> 
> ... seriously, i'm pretty sure it's 5k+....
> 
> also, between the last time i posted and before i posted this, we hit 300 kudos!! i'm so happy!! you guys are literally so great and make me so happy!! please continue to comment because i love to see your thoughts on what i write!!


	12. *your friendship leveled up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gotta love the originals, right?
> 
> bonding time with 'nilla

 

 

“Sans.” You said seriously.

 

“yyyeeeesss?”

 

“I’m not going to sit here all day.” You _would_ get up without having this childish argument with Sans, but you were a little, well _trapped_ at the moment - after you’d humored him by cuddling up in a blanket on your favorite couch in the living room, bringing your legs up and nesting slightly, Sans had had the _audacity_ to sit on your legs.

 

Then he’d flipped the channel to a show he apparently enjoyed.

 

… That was two episodes ago. As much as you were glad he hadn’t had a terrible reaction to your little attack, you _didn’t_ appreciate his insistence on you resting.

 

“Let me go.”

 

Sans scratched at his nasal ridge for a bit, almost as if he was deep in thought before a low, almost whiny tone started in his chest.

 

“hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm” … You watched in absolute shock as Sans ‘hm’ed himself to sleep, pretending to be deep in thought.

 

He _literally_ fell asleep! He was even snoring! You didn’t even know skeletons could snore, and you _were_ a skeleton!

 

“Sans Skeleton!”

 

(.... Yes, that _was_ his last name… imagine your surprise when Papyrus had shown you his driver’s license that first time you’d gone into town…)

 

“zzzzzzzzzzz”

 

“Comic Sans Skeleton!”

 

Now _that_ got his attention - so much, actually, that he startled awake and fell off the couch with a wheeze.

 

You didn’t even have time to find it funny as you flung your legs over the side of the couch and made to _bolt_ upstairs, thoughts of making some sort of sheet-rope to escape like in the childrens’ stories -

 

When Sans’ hand caught you around the tibia, tripping you, but the unexpected grab _in between_ your bones had you make an embarassing, high-pitched squeal as you went down. Unfortunately, you could also feel your slipper falling off your foot.

 

_Th-the fuzzy socks!_

 

Of _course_ your _one_ indulgence is going to end up like this.

 

Luckily, as far as you could tell, Sans was still face down in the blanket you’d thrown off, hand still closed around your tibia.

 

“wh- _where_ …” he huffed from his position, looking up to emphasize his next words, “did you learn that name?”

 

His bravado died on the spot, however, when he saw the position he had you in; you were laying down on your stomach, propped up on your elbows, looking back at him, who held your tibia, your socked foot stretched out inches from his face.

 

Both of your eye sockets widened to max capacity.

 

“aa-ahhhhhhhhhhhh”

 

His skull immediately broke out in a vibrant blue as he dropped your leg and you pulled your foot under your body as you sat up.

 

“S-sorry!” You squeaked out, fumbling for your slipper and trying to shove it on your foot in the least conspicuous way possible.

 

“n-no, it’s not’cher fault, ireallyshould’vestoppedwhenyoutoldmebutthenyoucalledmecomic- and, and…” Sans flopped his face back down into the blanket and started making a high pitched ‘hnnn’ sound.

 

As embarrassed as you were, you still felt the need to reassure Sans - or, really, save him from melting into a puddle - but you first took a few moments to collect yourself by pulling the neck of your sweater over your skull.

 

Still in this position, you began to talk, “Did you want to, um, forget about this?”

 

“stars, please” Sans replied with a huge sigh of relief, still face down on the floor.

 

You gathered your inner strength, taking a few deep (and unnecessary - being a skeleton and all) breaths. A few seconds of this and you pulled yourself up, staring at your now, (thankfully) slippered feet. Before you could leave, though, Sans, turning his skull to the side so he wasn’t face down nor looking at you, began to speak again.

 

“.... did, you, ah, want to, um, go? somewhere? with me? i mean, i understand if you don’t, but i think maybe i have a placethatwouldhelpyoucalmdownaftereverything - “

 

Before Sans could dig himself into a deeper hole, you cut him off.

 

“S-sure…”

 

He looked up at you, blue bleeding away from his face, eye sockets widening further than _should_ be possible and jaw clicking shut for a moment as he seemed to _gulp_ (?).

 

“it’s, also, ah, like almost, like five - you woke up pretty late - not that i’m judging or anything, i mean, i wake up around the same time, and - “

 

“Sans.” you stopped him, “I said yes.”

 

“o-okay…” He cleared his throat as he shuffled into a standing position slowly, pushing himself up with his hands and avoiding your eyelights.

 

… Then he did the most peculiar thing - he offered you his hand.

 

After you stared at it for a few moments, Sans seemed to realize his mistake.

 

“oh, ah, i was hoping t’take a shortcut?” He waved his outstretched arm around like that was an explanation in itself.

 

“Do we have to be holding hands?” You asked, tilting your head to the side - last time Stretch had teleported you, he’d just tapped you (aggressively) on the shoulder and voila - you were there.

 

“we don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Sans was quick to reassure you, “but it makes for a smoother ride the more, um, _contact_ you have with me.”

 

Explains why you felt like every single molecule of your dust had been misplaced last time, along with the nausea.

 

You would gladly hold hands if it meant avoiding that feeling.

 

“It’s okay - I mean, I don’t mind.” You told him, grabbing onto his hand, not resisting in your surprise whenever he pulled you closer to him, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as your face pressed into his sternum.

 

You couldn’t have said if you were in that position for an eternity or for seconds - even after you left the Void.

 

After that dropping feeling - like you were being erased from existence then rewritten in binary code or something else confusing - it was hard to gather your bearings.

 

You only remembered realizing that you’d put your arms around Sans’ middle tightly, and were pulling him as close as possible.

 

You jumped away like he was made of fire as soon as you came to and looked at your feet.

 

Wait! You were still in your pajamas (okay, not pajamas, but as close as you could possibly get while still justifying to yourself that they were ‘real’ clothes), AND your slippers!

 

“Sans!” You hissed, glancing around in a self conscious manner.

 

Said skeleton’s face fell, a guilty look coming over his features as he realized his actions, “fuck, sorry, should’a asked you ‘fore i grabbed you like i did.”

 

With a startling blush, you went to correct him.

 

“N-no, not about that…” _It was actually pretty nice…_ “I’m still in my home clothes! I don’t even have any _shoes_ on!”

 

Sans blinked in a surprised manner, looking over you like he’d just noticed that you were still wearing your sweater and leggings with slippers. After a few moments his surprise shifted to what you’d come to see as his usual casual and mischievous look.

 

“so what. not like _i’m_ settin’ the _bar_ super high.”

 

You arched a brow bone, crossing your arms over your ribcage. “First: you’re never the bar. You’re at least five levels below the bar. Two: I heard a pun in there but I have no idea what it’s about.”

 

“ouch. you’ve been spending too much time with the edgelord. also, what’s wrong with taking you to visit our favorite bar _tinder_?”

 

“Okay, don’t you think ‘Edgelord’ is a bit harsh, and  - “ You paused mid sentence to look behind you, where, sure enough, a modest building sandwiched between two larger buildings stood, a giant neon sign reading the words ‘Grillby’s’ proudly displayed above the door.

 

“Grillby’s!?” The familiarity of the sight (it looked almost identical to the Grillby’s in your universe! No that you’d visited it in a while…), had your magic buzzing around your bones excitedly.

 

Sans chuckled at your apparent awe, giving you the skeletal equivalent of a noogie (very similar - but kept the force behind the movement more subdued as it caused an unpleasant sound for both the  giver and receiver).

 

“thought maybe a little _taste_ o’home would help settle your _bones_ after everythin’.”

 

You slapped Sans’ hand away, still looking up at the building.

 

… It was true that you’d been missing home lately, what with thoughts of your brother and _her_ floating around in your skull, but the thought of confronting Grillby after nearly fifteen years of static silence… even if it wasn’t technically _your_ Grillby… was daunting.

 

Thinking back, fifteen years was a _really_ long time.

 

You hadn’t visited him since Gaster had first disappeared, when you’d made a quick exit after learning that for some reason even _he_ had forgotten everything about his long term customer and _maybe  more_.

 

It wasn’t until months and months of endless searching and frantic research that you concluded the memory loss of most everybody on the face of the Earth was due to the machine. The Void.

 

You heard some shuffling, and looked back to see Sans’ skull slightly turtled into his hoodie, a small blush tinting his cheekbones as he kicked at the ground with the tip of his already hideously scuffed shoe.

 

“... thought maybe you’d enjoy it?”

 

At this obvious doubt over the correctness of his actions, your SOUL calmed and you somewhat awkwardly patted his shoulder.

 

“... I think this is actually really nice. And you’re right about it being just like home.”

 

Sans visibly relaxed at your words, walking towards he door and nudging you with his shoulder on his way as a cue for you to follow him into the bar.

 

“heh, glad i didn’t _put you out_ by choosin’ this place.” He explained further as he held the door open for you. Despite your self consciousness, you decided to listen to him and ignore any stares you got as you walked in.

 

“stretch prefers muffet’s an’ red says this place gives him the creeps… somethin’ about ‘twilight zone’ bullshit… he likes this human place a few blocks down called ‘ricky’s’.”

 

You made a noise in the back of your ‘throat’ - you recognized the name from that time Red had come home drunk. He’d mentioned ‘going to ricky’s’. It still put you slightly on edge, thinking about his condition upon returning home.

 

… Although he’d also mentioned leaving Ricky’s in a rage and heading over to Grillby’s for some drinks, which seems even more serious if you added in the fact that he didn’t even _prefer_ this universe’s Grillby’s.

 

“surprisingly, blue likes this place, though he says grillbz is way different back where he’s from - similar to our muffet, from what i gather - “ And that was the last thing you were able to hear him say before cheers of his name rose around the room.

 

“SANS!” They all greeted, either raising their cups in cheer or just giving a few claps of their hands or whatever else they used as hands.

 

Sans, ever the… well, whatever he is, rose a hand back in greeting, shooting back a few names in response of those he apparently knew well.

 

Lastly was the flaming bartender at the very back, looking rather amused.

 

“grillbz! i got a bud over here who’s just _burning_ t’get t’know you!”

 

Your face heated as suddenly everybody in the bar’s gaze few over to you, the small figure next to Sans.

 

“Oi, Sans, who’s that?” Someone called.

 

“Another cousin? Say, how’s Blue?” Another voice in the crowd

 

“Oooohhh, introduce us, Sansy!” Finally, this voice belonged to a seemingly drunk bunny, on her Star’s-know-how-many-ith drink.

 

… Oh, shit, you think you went to highschool with her.

 

Bonbon? Yeah, Bonbon.

 

Your first inclination was to greet her and perhaps introduce yourself as a former classmate, but you held yourself back.

 

… This was weird.

 

Was this how all of the other skeletons felt when they saw monsters from their own universes? Theirs were much more similar to this one, despite still being underground, but for a moment you felt like you could catch a glimpse of the sense of not belonging they must feel everyday.

 

You felt the pressure of around two dozen eyes one you, though, a little over ten people being in the bar at the moment, though, so you began to ramble out an excuse for how you knew Sans.

 

“Ah, no, not cousins…” You looked over to Sans for moral support, but only received a slightly expectant/encouraging nod. “We’re, um, family friends.”

 

“yup,” Sans continued, giving you a wink as he backed you up, “chip here an’ i grew up together back when i lived in the capitol.”

 

“Oh!” Bonbon exclaimed, eyes lighting up and ears lifting. “It’s Chip, then! Got any embarrassing stories of our dear Sansy?”

 

Sans chuckled slightly, looking to the side as blue sweat beaded at his forehead.

 

…  The ball was in your court. You could make up whatever you wanted about Sans in this moment and these people would _believe you_.

 

….

 

You almost let the power go to your skull. _Almost_.

 

You laughed a bit nervously, scratching your nasal ridge. “Sorry, nothing too interesting.”

 

A chorus of ‘AWWS’ broke out across the room, but it was short lived as everyone quickly went back to their own conversations and activities.

 

You didn’t have time to relish in the genius of your lie before Sans was pulling you by your hand towards the bar. A small squeeze of his hand around yours alerted you of Sans’ thankfulness that you hadn’t taken advantage of the situation.

 

You squeezed back to convey what you hoped went across as ‘no problem’. Experience has shown that you are not exactly the _best_ with silent conversations.

 

Sans didn’t seem to show any sign that you’d done wrong,though. If anything he could barely conceal his excitement of introducing you to his Grillby.

 

As soon as you sat at the stool next to Sans, you brought yourself to look Grillby in the ‘eyes’ for the first time in fifteen years.

 

Of course, in this universe, you would have never met him yet, since you would probably still be around twenty something.

 

… still on the streets….

 

You forced those thoughts out of your head as you offered the flaming man a hand.

 

“Nice to meet you, Grillby, I’m (y/n), but the boys mostly call me Chip!”

 

He took your hand, giving it a few firm shakes and a sincere smile.

 

“.... likewise, my dear…..”

 

Then, he turned to Sans, expression flipping at the turn of a coin. Aware of this, Sans began to sweat, looking at you out of the corner of his eye socket again as if to say ‘ _help_ ’. However, since you didn’t exactly know what to do in this situation, you could only watch as a bystander.

 

“.... sans….. another one...?”

 

“w-well, i mean, can you really call her _another_ one if she’s not a sans or papyrus?” The skeleton in question defended.

 

“.... how many skeletons will you displace before your curiosity is sated?”

 

“aw, grillbz, you know i’m just tryna get them all home, now…”

 

“... and, yet….” Grillby pointed at you, raising a brow at Sans.

 

… you almost felt like you were at a friend’s house, watching them get scolded by their parents.

 

… kind of reminded you of when you couch hopped in your high school years.

 

“minor setback,” Sans said confidently, “i’m _hot_ on the trail of fixin’ that machine.”

 

You had to give a small chuckle at that joke, and before you knew it, Sans seemed to be completely in his element, cracking jokes and giving away stray winks like he was made of them.

 

In a way, this trip had done exactly what Sans had intended it to - you’d forgotten all about yesterday’s unpleasantness, the almost-attack from earlier today and the more embarrassing sock incident.

 

… until Grillby placed the burger Sans had ordered for you in front of you, and your meal with Stretch from yesterday flooded your thoughts.

 

Sans noticed. He gave you a concerned look as you stared down the admittedly delicious looking burger.

 

“somethin’ wrong, kiddo?”

 

You tried to shake your head, to shrug off the sudden chill that settled over your bones and eat the burger like a normal person - the same burger that you’d had nearly everyday when Gaster used to take you to Grillby’s after your classes.

 

But you couldn’t. Images of the sparkly food and drink from Muffet’s clouded your vision.

 

“Th-there’s no _d-dust_ in this, right?” you asked quietly, not wanting Grillby to hear and be upset by your question.

 

“ _dust?_ ” Sans reiterated, sounding horrified of your question.

 

You meekly nodded your head. Your meekness turned into fragile relief as he shook his head vehemently.

 

“no, stars, kid - what gave you _that_ idea?”

 

“I-It’s just, with Stretch, yesterday, at Muffett’s - “

 

“so _that’s_ what happened - stars, what a mess - “

 

At Sans’ frustrated tone of voice, you inquired about what he meant.

 

“ugh, so you know about muffet’s spiders, well, unlike most monsters…” Sans paused for a bit, cursing softly, “don’t mean t’make ‘em sound _sub monster_ or anythin’, but they only live for, like, two weeks at most.”

 

He looked at you to see if you were following, to which you nodded for him to continue.

 

“an’ i don’t know if it’s the same wherever you’re from, but over here we gotta tradition of scattereing a monster’s dust on whatever they loved most - don’t ask me how it works, but somehow they bake the dust into the food - “

 

“And they just _feed it to people_?”

 

Again, Sans gave you a horrified look, “no, asgore’s beard, they only put the goods with dust in the display window. they use different utensils and bowls for those goods and _never_ let people eat ‘em.”

 

You let out a relieved sigh at this information - in this context, you could actually see it as a rather sweet and romantic idea.

 

“stars, did stretch just _let_ you think you were eatin’ some poor fella?”

 

… Apparently, your silence spoke volumes.

 

“... i’m glad we at least got _that_ out of the air…”

 

“... Bad joke, Sans.” You deadpanned.

 

“wha?” Sans seemed confused until his eyelights shrank in their sockets and he seemed to choke on his spit, “s-stars, i didn’t mean it like that!”

 

You gave him a slightly judgemental look as you picked up your burger and took a bite, knowing he was watching you.

 

“...really,” He weakly protested.

 

Your response came after you slowly chewed and swallowed the bite in your mouth, “I know.”

 

He sent you a playful glare, not breaking eye-contact with you as he dumped an entire container of ketchup on his fries and _fished around in the soupy mess to find a fry._

 

“... Disgusting.” You commented.

 

Sans merely shrugged as he popped the fry into his mouth, licking off the excess ketchup with a tongue he summoned that was _much_ too long for getting the ketchup off of his hands to be practical. “still delicious.”

 

You tried to hide how much it flustered you, turning back to your own food for a quick bite of your burger before you mustered up the courage to look back.

 

“What is it with you and ketchup? - there’s stains from the stuff on our bathroom ceiling. Explain. Now.”

 

With the most serious look he could muster, Sans maintained eye contact as he responded with a question of his own.

 

“ever tried to carbonate ketchup?”

 

… You knew you shouldn’t have asked.

 

Sans broke out into deep laughter at the look you must have been making, shoving an entire gloppy handful of fries in his mouth, only increasing your horror.

 

When he was finished cleaning the ketchup off of his hand (with a napkin, this time, much to your relief), Sans levied a question in your direction.

 

“Sans?... “ you sighed, should you ask this? “About Stretch, -”

 

Sans raised a hand, cutting you off. “dun’ worry ‘bout him, kid. He’s got a habit of bein’ dramatic, it ain’t just with you.... if you’re real upset about it, though, i can tell you that his grudges usually last pretty short. he’ll come around.”

 

You nodded your head, although you were still unconvinced. But who knows? Sans has known him longer and Stretch _is_ technically another version of Sans’ brother...

 

“so - enough about us an’ all that jazz. tell me more about you. got any family?”

 

You looked back at your burger,  thinking about all of the ties that had been forcefully cut from you. “None that I’ll ever see again.”

 

“... sorry.” Sans said, voice covered in guilt … almost like _he_ felt responsible, and in an instant you realized he must’ve thought you were talking about being pulled into this universe.

 

“Oh - not because of the machine. Sadly, they were _long_ gone before I got here.”

 

Your thoughts drifted to the photo you still hadn’t gotten back from Blue. At this rate you were a little afraid he’d cleaned up his room and mistaken your photo for trash and thrown it out.

 

“I never knew my mom or dad, but I do remember my grandma and brother.”

 

Sans silent eyebrow lift encouraged you to keep talking.

 

… you’d thought of them more in the past two weeks than in the last three years, ever since these skeletons kept dredging up more memories.

 

… You found that you didn’t mind it all that much. For some reason… talking about it like this helped.

 

 _Who knows? Maybe Gaster and my therapist were right about that_.

 

“My dad died in a work accident when I was younger and my mom didn’t make it through the breach - so my brother and I were left in the care of our grandma. She was a nice woman - hardworking, too; she worked in some of the richer folks’ homes cleaning until she was seventy four.”

 

“... ‘Course she had to quit at that point - humans got a short span of time where they’re able. My brother had found a …. Freelancing job, by that time, though. He didn’t talk about it much, even though Grandma was always keen to know more about where her grandbaby was spending all of his time.”

 

“I was still in middle school, so I couldn't really help, and I saw that it was taking a toll on Cam…”

 

Sans sent a silent question with his eyelights.

 

“... Cam, short for Cambria, my brother. He was a bit shorter than Stretch and less lanky, too. Looked a lot like me. He was… well, I’d like to say he was the best brother ever and always there, but that would be a lie. He was absent a lot and almost never sober. When he _was_ , though, he was the life of the party.”

 

You smiled as you recalled Cam’s better moments, “he joked around a lot and was generous to the point where he would quite literally bleed himself dry for anyone in need. He always tried to help and protect my grandma and I, but, well… he wasn’t so good at it.”

 

“... When Grandma died, I was still in high school. Cam took over the apartment completely after that. He had his buddies from work over a lot, and they used our apartment as a … base, of sorts. He thought it was great. Thought he’d made himself _invaluable_. It… It wasn’t safe for me to be around most of the time, so I was away a lot.”

 

“From there I couldn’t tell you a lot about him, until he got arrested. The cops busted up his ‘freelancing gig’ and it was exposed that he had ties to a local gang and was selling drugs from our apartment. Over a hundred counts of murder and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drug money were exposed and he got, what? Six hundred years, no parole?”

 

You took a shaky breath, “most humans, that’s just a life sentence, but for Cam, that’s… that’s six hundred years. He was there for nine years before I visited. He died shortly after.”

 

“... fuck.” Sans whispered, reaching hand out to pat you on the back, but stopping midway and letting his arm fall to the bar.

 

“Fuck is right…” you sighed, taking another half hearted bite of your food.

 

“how… how did it happen? if he was in prison?”

 

“It shouldn’t have,” you borderline growled before you caught yourself. “Ah, well, monsters and humans were separated in prison - for good reason, a single punch from a human can do a monster in, and prison fights are pretty common - but some humans fighting for equality or something - they argued segregation and a few months later my brother was transported to a primarily human prison since his was crowded. There was a fight and my brother tried to intervene - “

 

You sighed, trying to regain control of yourself, “... I got a call from the prison. I didn’t pick it up. I found out two days later.”

 

“...’m sorry…”

 

You rubbed your face for a little, giving the information time to settle before you changed the subject.

 

“... What about you? What’s it like having Gaster for a real dad?”

 

Sans shrugged, “he was the royal scientist, for starters. he was gone a lot of the time, too. wasn’t the best dad for a long time, but he straightened out for the most part after paps was born. moved us to hotland…. i was visiting home from college, when it happened. gast wanted to show me his newest creation, an’, well, turns out he understood it less than he thought he did. fell into it. never saw him again an’ everybody else’s memories were wiped clean.”

 

“That sucks…” You consoled, knowing you sounded dumb but not knowing what else to say. How old must Papyrus have been? Did Sans have to help raise him and go to college at the same time? How did they pay for housing?

 

“yeah…”

 

… You felt like Sans was sparing you many of the terrible details. You didn’t mind. You had done the same.

 

The air was tense, so you decided to make a joke - hey, maybe these skeletons were rubbing off on you more than you thought… talking about feelings, making jokes… Still, you couldn’t help but think it felt nice to be so open with others.

 

“Wow. Heh, feels almost like our friendship leveled up or something. I mean, tragic backstories?” Weak, but effective. Sans cracked a grin.

 

“y’know, you sound a lot like papyrus and his little manual right about now… eheh... “

 

Despite not knowing what manual Sans was talking about, you still grinned along with him.

 

However, the outing had to come to an end sooner or later, and it was looking like sooner since neither of you felt too much like eating after those stories, so you waved goodbye to everybody in the bar, Sans leaving Grillby a parting message to ‘put it on his tab’.

 

“Bye Sansy! Bye, Chip!” Bonbon called before you left, the rest of the bar soon joining in.

 

… Sans took the both of you home, and the house was still quiet. Either the others hadn’t returned or decided to take an early night.

 

The air was still heavy with that sad feeling from earlier, so you decided to make the drink your grandma had whenever those feelings would come up or after a nightmare.

 

 _A drink for the SOUL_ , she’d called it.

 

“makin’ more of that drink?” Sans asked hopefully as he followed you into the kitchen, taking his regular spot on the counter.

 

“Yeah, I think we both could use some…” You responded.

 

“... guess so, … hey, what do you call it, anyway?”

 

“I can’t remember, my grandma used to call it something in spanish, but I always just called it Sweet Milk.”

 

“pfffft…. sweet milk?”

 

“Don’t judge me. Hey, hey!” You shot a look at Sans as you started to simmer the ingredients together, “I said don’t judge me!”

 

What you didn’t anticipate, though, was as you leaned towards him to add effect to your words, Sans had also leaned forward for whatever reason you couldn't identify - leaving your skulls inches from each other.

 

You took in his appearance in the orange glow that filtered int through the windows.

 

It almost felt like… like you were looking for something. And… and like you had found it? In Sans?

 

You had to look back down to keep tears from welling up in your sockets - but not sad tears.

 

“hey, ‘what’s in a name?’, amiright?”

 

You snorted, at least shakespeare hadn’t changed from your universes, “A milk by another name would taste as sweet!”

 

Sans gave a dramatically girly sigh, clasping his hands at his chest, “oh romeo, romeo, deny thy father and deny thy name,”

 

“- Or if thou wilt not, - “

 

“ - be but my sworn love!”

 

You and Sans stuttered the last line out at the same time, neither realizing your mistake until it was too late and the both of you were staring, blushing furiously as you willed your gazes to not meet.

 

It was a few more minutes before the drink was done and you handed Sans a mug filled with the milk.

 

“Thanks…”

 

Sans hopped of the counter with his mug, somehow not spilling a drop, and headed into the living room. You followed after him, curious.

 

… Until he sat on the couch, pulling up the blanket that was miraculously untouched since this morning, and patting the space next to him. You quickly padded over, taking a seat next to the only-slightly-larger-than-you-skeleton (who were you kidding - he was taller than Blue, who’s jaw you just managed to reach) as he clicked on that same show from before.

 

… You lasted all of five minutes before you passed out, drink thankfully on the coffee table by then.

 

Asleep as you were, you couldn’t have noticed Sans’ soft look at you, or the way he set his own drink aside in favor to carry you up the stairs against his chest.

 

… You couldn’t have seen the way he laid you down gently on your bed, pulling the covers over you after a few moments of thought and quickly chucking your slippers off, avoiding looking at your feet as he did so.

 

… Couldn’t have remembered the way your hand caught his sleeve before he left and he sat down on the floor next to your bed, laying his skull on his arms next to you, falling asleep after only a few moments of taking in your steady breathing.

 

…

 

All you knew is that when you woke your blankets were all strewn across the floor and small, muddy dog paw prints lead to your bedside. There were none leading out. You tentatively checked underneath the blanket on the floor to see if you could find the elusive creature…

 

There was nothing. At least you had wooded floors…?

 

…

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaacckk, this is late-ish... so, quick update on my life: got a new job!! yay!! except there is a downside since i have training this week, so there will be no update next week.... sorry....
> 
> i might make it every other week, but do know that i'm trying to write as much as i can! the chapters have been getting longer (i don't know if you noticed), so it's been taking me a bit more time to write them.... this chapter is 5k+, and the next is 6k+....
> 
> that being said, i still love writing and hearing y'all's reactions, so keep commenting! it's super good motivation for me right now. i especially love the theories i get....
> 
> also................ some of reader's backstory is exposed,,,, sans, too. i'm going to try and dive into each skeleton's backstory, so this is just a teaser for what is to come!!
> 
> love u guys!!


	13. daaaaaaaatttteeee??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hang out session? date? friendly outing? with your boi blue...
> 
> .... something's definitely going on.

 

 

All it took was a quick trip to the bathroom you shared with Sans and Stretch to get a washcloth to wipe away the prints, which gave you a few moments to reflect on the strangeness of the situation.

 

You searched your room after you finished with the paw prints that you could see, hoping to one, find out if the dog was somehow still in your room and two, not find them later and have to clean again.

 

… You still didn’t find anything and were at this point wondering if there was a such thing as a ghost dog and why they would go after your blanket.

 

However, you there wasn’t much time for you to think as you remembered after re-making your bed that not only have you not showered in over a day, you also had classes today.

 

So, after picking out a quick outfit, settling on a simple white sundress since it was rather warm outside and it was quicker than anything else at the moment, you made a mad dash to the bathroom in hopes that none of the skeletons you shared the space with were currently showering.

 

…. Pft, okay, yeah, you shouldn’t feel too worried considering between the time you’d known Sans and Stretch, you’d never had conflicting shower times or even heard them showering.

 

Skeletons didn’t have to wash themselves as often as humans - although being raised in a home with a human guardian had hardwired daily showering into you, so it wasn’t too unreasonable for skeletons to go about a week without showering.

 

… Except you’ve been here for just over two weeks.

 

Well, based on your interactions you could already tell that they were slobs. Plus, you found it hard to see them doing anything with their time besides eating messily that could actually get them to work up a sweat or get dirty in some other manner.

 

Stretch barely ever left the house and Sans was more of an ‘in-door skeleton’.

 

To your surprise, though, your hand collided with someone else’s as you reached for the knob to the bathroom.

 

… You looked up to see Stretch, you seemed about just as shocked to see you as you were to see him.

 

Neither of you moved for a few beats, and in that time a deep, almost unbearable tension built between the two of you. Slowly, you drew your hand away, holding the dress you’d picked to be your outfit for the day closer to your rib cage as you looked at the ground.

 

“S-Sorry, I’ll, uh, find another shower to use…” You mumbled, looking to move past him.

 

Blue had let you use him and Papyrus’ shower earlier, so you supposed it wouldn’t be too intrusive to use it again. Maybe you could stop by his room to ask about the photo, too. Yeah. Good plan, Chip.

 

“n-no!” Stretch caught your shoulder, pulling you back to look at his face. You flinched and looked away, shrugging his hand off of your shoulder.

 

As if realizing his mistake, Stretch pulled his hand back like you were made of fire and shoved it into his hoodie pocket.

 

He made a sound like he was clearing his throat, stepping back from the door to offer you entrance. “you can go first. ‘m not doin’ anythin’ today.”

 

You stepped back, making brief eye-light-contact with the taller skeleton before shaking your skull gently, “Ah, no, it’s okay. I can use Blue and Papyrus’... besides, you probably need it more than me, to be honest.”

 

The two of you flinched hard at your statement -  _ Stars! _ You didn’t mean to make it sound like that. Now the air was even more awkward as it was filled with your unintentionally judgmental statement.

 

“... i guess you’re right.” He admitted, entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind him in one fluid motion.

 

You didn’t blame him. That situation was embarrassing for the both of you.

 

On your way down, you checked the calendar again for everybody’s daily activities. Unsurprisingly, most of the boys were busy with work or school, the only ones not labeled as specifically busy being Stretch (no surprise) and Blue.

 

The board also, conveniently, had a note pinned up with a magnet addressed to you. You recognized Papyrus’ handwriting. You snatched up the letter and read.

 

_ DEAREST CHIP!, _

 

_ AS YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN ABLE TO TELL, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM TEACHING EARLY LESSONS TODAY AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE YOU THE EMBASSY! FEAR NOT, FOR WHILE MANY OF US ARE BUSY THIS MORNING, THANKFULLY HAVING SUCH A LARGE HOUSEHOLD ENSURES THAT AT LEAST ONE OF US WILL BE FREE TO DRIVE YOU. _

 

_ THIS IS WHY BLUE WILL BE TAKING YOU - HOWEVER, HE HAS INFORMED ME THAT A CLIENT SCHEDULED AN EMERGENCY APPOINTMENT WITH HIM, SO PLEASE DO HURRY SO THAT NEITHER OF YOU WILL BE LATE TO YOUR OBLIGATIONS!! _

 

_ (P.S.: BLUE HAS ALSO AGREED TO PICK YOU UP TODAY, SO LOOK OUT FOR HIM - I KNOW HE IS NOT AS VISIBLE AS I AM IN A CROWD.) _

 

_ ((P.P.S.: YOU CAN THANK ME FOR TALKING SLIM OUT OF TAKING YOU AGAIN… I KNOW THAT WHILE HE IS A RATHER EFFICIENT DRIVER, THE LAW IS NOT HIS PRIMARY OCCUPATION WHILE ON THE ROADS!!)) _

 

You snorted a little at the foot notes and folded the paper, shoving it into the pocket of the leggings you were wearing (that makes two days in a row for sleeping in your clothes… gross..), and made a renewed effort to get downstairs quickly.

 

You didn’t want Blue to have to wait on you.

 

On your way down though, you got caught off guard for the second time as you collided with yet another one of your roommates on the stairs. Since you were heading down the stairs, the person who you ran into began to fall backwards.

 

You reached for them, clutching your outfit to yourself with one arm and extending the other. Luckily, they managed to grasp at your hand, but it resulted in your being pulled down with them.

 

Gasping, you felt yourself be spun around as the person hugged you close to their rib cage, leaning back towards the top of the stairs to try and steady your balance.

 

Thankfully, it worked, and you were finally able to step down and turn to thank your rescuer.

 

Ah, just your luck - the very skeleton your were looking for, Blue!

 

“Ahh, thanks for the save, Blue, that could have been a disaster!” You chuckled, looking down to make sure you hadn’t dropped any of your clothes in the mess. You hadn’t. Good.

 

Blue blushed the color of his name, fiddling with his bandanna and pulling it slightly over his grin. “N-NO PROBLEM! I WAS JUST HEADING UP TO TELL YOU ABOUT YOUR TRANSPORTATION ARRANGEMENTS TODAY!”

 

“Oh, I was actually heading down to ask you about the same thing - well, also to ask about your shower, but that, too… Papyrus left me a note. You’ll be taking me to and from the embassy today?”

 

“YES! I’M CASHING IN ON THAT PROMISE YOU MADE A WHILE BACK - WE’LL BE TAKING MY MOTORCYCLE!! I ALSO WANTED TO ASK YOU IF IT WOULD BE OKAY IF… IF I TOOK YOU SOMEWHERE AFTER INSTEAD OF JUST BACK HOME?” Blue’s, well,  _ blueness _ increased as did his fidgeting.

 

Was he nervous? You couldn’t comprehend why. Perhaps he was nervous about you not wanting to ride his motorcycle. There was no need to be, honestly - you were super excited to take your first ride on a two-wheeler.

 

“Sure! It’s nice of you to want to show me around… I still don’t know a lot about this area or even this universe yet!”

 

He seemed to deflate slightly, and his blush died slightly, but he still looked down at you with those hopeful baby blue eye-lights. “SHOW YOU AROUND, RIGHT… HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO GRILLBY’S?”

 

You nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, actually, Sans took me to the one in this universe yesterday. Did you want to grab a bite to eat there after you pick me up?”

 

Blue further deflated, and from here you could infer it was probably due to the fact that he’d been excited to show you the bar. Sans  _ had _ mentioned that out of all the other skeletons, Blue seemed to enjoy it the most.

 

“It doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy eating there again...” You pointed out, hoping to cheer him up.

 

“YES, BUT I WANT TO SHOW YOU  _ NEW _ PLACES IN THIS UNIVERSE… I’LL THINK MORE ABOUT IT LATER - THAT JUST MEANS THAT IT’LL BE  SURPRISE, MWEH HEH!” You gave Blue a smile to match his enthusiasm and show your own.

 

“Cool! So about the shower - can I use yours again? Stretch is in ours.“

 

Blue looked down at you with renewed interest, like he’d just now realized that you were still wearing your outfit from yesterday. Not that he’d seen you yesterday, although you supposed that the wrinkles and the way it clung to your bones was enough hint.

 

He, himself, was already dressed - a gray tank and black joggers. To add a splash of color, though, his outfit included his signature bandanna and blue trainers the same shade. Much like you’d noticed when Slim had driven you, Blue didn’t wear his gloves and also much like Slim, you couldn’t see any obvious deformities on them.

 

Not like with Papyrus.

 

“OF COURSE! MY SHOWER IS YOUR SHOWER, CHIP!”

 

You were knocked out of your slightly trance-like observatory state by Blue’s statement. With one last grin, you bid the skeleton goodbye as you made your way to the shower.

 

Unlike last time, you didn’t let any bad thoughts infiltrate your mind as you showered, instead allowing the hot water to crash over your bones an let you forget everything outside of the nice smelling soap.

 

… You hadn’t actually had the chance to buy yourself new soap or anything like that, so you’d been mooching off the skeletons’, but they didn’t seem to mind so you supposed you were fine for the moment.

 

Papyrus and Blue’s soaps were especially nice smelling, though, so it did take you a few moments of deliberation to decide which soap to use. Blue’s was the spearmint and eucalyptus mix while Papyrus had a creamy vanilla-orange scented soap.

 

You chose Blue’s for today, for the sole purpose that the minty undertone helped you feel cleaner after not showering for so long.

 

When you finished, you dressed quickly in the dress and stood in front of the mirror. It looked soft and feminine, giving you a slightly giddy feeling in your abdominal cavity as your magic fluttered happily.

 

You put on some light socks and made sure your slippers were securely on your feet before you headed over to the laundry room, dropping off your dirty clothes before hurrying to the front door where Blue was already waiting.

 

He took one look at you, his cheekbones tinting again with his blue magic. His appreciation for your outfit drew some magic to your own cheekbones as you smiled bashfully, “I’ll just get my shoes on, then we can leave.”

 

At the same time, his own addition to his outfit hadn’t gone unnoticed - a leather jacket, presumably to protect his bones from wind and from potential falls. You internally cringed at the thought of what might happen to bones when they skidded across the pavement in the case of a crash… not pretty…

 

Either way, you couldn’t deny the jacket was attractive.

 

After you’d gotten your shoes on, you looked down to appraise your outfit before you left. Sure, your boots made a nice contrast between rough and the soft of your dress, but it still felt like you were missing something to pull the look off. Right now it just felt mis-matchy.

 

Your thoughts were interrupted when you felt a heavy weight fall on your shoulders. Shocked, you looked up to see Blue, who was adjusting the jacket he’d dumped onto you. 

 

“HERE! YOU’LL NEED IT IF YOU’RE GOING TO RIDE ON A MOTORCYCLE - BESIDES, THAT DRESS IS EXPOSING A LOT OF B-BONE, ANYWAYS!” You accepted his help with little resistance - he was right, after all - and slipped your arms into the sleeves.

 

It was baggy in you as Blue’s bones were thicker than yours, especially around the arms since he almost looked to have human muscles with the width and shape. You glanced in the mirror that decorated the entrance hall, though, and found that it was just what you needed to pull off the look.

 

You looked back to Blue, who was grinning at you as you struck a pose, putting your hands inside the pockets and turning your skull to the side. Trying not to giggle, you asked “What do you think?”

 

He surprised you with a small round of applause and a genuine compliment, “YOU LOOK VERY CUTE!”

 

You pulled up the collar of the jacket, trying to hide your steadily heating face as magic flooded to your skull, “Heheh, thanks… um, what about you, though?”

 

Shit. Oh shit. Mistakes were made. You could smell Blue’s fresh minty-icy scent on the jacket and you just took a breath in, and now it looks like your sniffing his clothes - 

 

“I HAVE AN EXTRA, DON’T WORRY - ACTUALLY, I’LL GET IT NOW, SAFETY IS IMPORTANT!”

 

Blue either didn’t notice your mistake or just didn’t decide to comment on it, and he left to his room before you could discern which it was based on his expression. You stopped playing with the collar of the jacket, instead looking at yourself in the mirror again.

 

You looked the same as ever, but it still felt weird to look in the mirror after all of this. To see that despite everything… you’re still you. Nothing’s changed.

 

… On the outside, at least. You had the feeling some serious internal changes were about to be happening during  your stay with these other skeletons, and you weren’t so sure if it was going to be easy.

 

Well, good things never are easy.

 

Blue came back not seconds later, slipping on another leather jacket, although… instead of it looking similar to the one you were wearing, it was bright blue like his bandana and when he turned around to open the front door, you could see that on the back his name (Blue, not Sans) and stars were embroidered with white thread.

 

As if sensing your stare, Blue rushed to explain the story behind the jacket. “PAPY - ER, STRETCH GOT IT FOR ME LAST GYFTMAS, ALTHOUGH I DON’T WEAR IT AS OFTEN BECAUSE IT’S NOT AS… PROFESSIONAL.”

 

“Well..” He added, quietly, “I Think, Really, I’d Be Devastated If I Did End Up Getting Into A Crash And I Damaging It… I’ll Just Drive Extra Safe Today!”

 

“That’s good… I’m still a little traumatized from Slim’s driving…” You commented, earning a laugh from Blue.

 

“IT  _ IS _ TRUE THAT HE ONLY GOT HIS DRIVER’S LICENSE BY THREATENING THE ADMINISTRATOR OF HIS EXAMINATION!”

 

You shot Blue a disbelieving look, “No? That’s not a thing you can do?” You said as he lead you towards the garage.

 

“I DIDN’T THINK SO, EITHER, BUT HE  _ WAS _ VERY FED UP DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE WAS THE LAST OF US TO GET HIS LICENSE - I SUPPOSE THE ADMINISTRATOR WAS RATHER EASILY…  _ PERSUADED _ .” You gasped at the wicked grin Blue had on his face, not believing for a second that the sweet skeleton you knew could make a look so devious.

 

Before you knew what you were doing, you gently slapped Blue’s shoulder, mustering up your most aghast voice as you responded, “Don’t sound like you’re encouraging him!”

 

Blue snickered, taking the hand you’d hit him with and pulling you closer to him with it. When you were flush against his side, he looped his larger arm around yours.

 

“WHY NOT? HE’S NOT HERE.”

 

Sputtering for a few moments, you tried to come up with a response. “It makes it sound like you would have done the same thing!” Despite you basically scolding him, though, you leaned into Blue and adjusted your arm to pull him closer to you.

 

“WELL…”

 

Your expression scrunched up, trying to even  _ comprehend _ Blue being remotely threatening to some poor test administrator, when said skeleton’s laugh brought you out of the thought.

 

“I’M JUST JOKING!! YOUR EXPRESSION WAS PRICELESS, THOUGH!”

 

You groaned, covering your face with your free hand, “I should have known, there’s no way my innocent blueberry could ever be so cruel…”

 

This quickly shut Blue up, and you were lucky enough to catch a vibrant blush on his cheekbones when you looked up. He was able to regain control over the magic flushing his face quickly, though, and not too long after he even decided to dish some back.

 

“QUITE THE CONTRARY, CHIP, I’M NOT SO INNOCENT AS YOU MAY THINK…”

 

At this, you pulled away from Blue, pointing your face down and using both of your arms to shove him away, “Shhh - SHUT UP!!”

 

It wasn’t too long after that the both of you broke down into raucous laughter, forgetting bold flirts or blushes as you reveled in the silliness of your interaction. By the time Blue and yourself had calmed down, you’d reached the garage, and Blue eagerly went in to grab a few things before bringing out his bike.

 

Curious, you looked to see that under his arms it was  _ helmets _ he was carrying, and felt oddly excited to try one on. The only automobiles you’d ever been on include buses and the occasional car - the prospect of being on a vehicle where you were completely exposed to the elements sent a dangerous spark of lust for adventure down your spine.

 

When Blue had finished strapping his duffel bag to the back of the bike, he looked to you and gave a quick ‘HEADS UP!’ before tossing one of the helmets to you. Upon inspection, it seemed to be simple; plain black without any decorations.

 

“THAT’S PAPY’S HELMET - WE ALL HAVE AT LEAST ONE, JUST IN CASE. I WOULD GIVE YOU ANOTHER OF MY EXTRAS, BUT MY SKULLS A BIT WIDER THAN YOURS.” Blue explained.

 

“Thanks!” Without further ado, you put the helmet on. It was… kinda weird. Definitely felt like it was squeezing your skull, but the padding on the inside was soft. You supposed it was supposed to be like that to keep human’s heads from rattling their brains around in case of a crash.

 

Blue put his own helmet on, flipping up the visor so you could see his eye sockets. Interestingly enough, his little baby blue eye lights had turned to stars. That’s… huh, you’d never seen any of the others do that, and you certainly didn’t think that you’d done it. Nor could you remember your brother ever…

 

… Well,  _ she _ often said that your eye lights had turned to hearts on your first date, but… you hadn't really believed her. Maybe there was something to what she’d said, after all.

 

Blue beckoned you closer with a movement of his hand (he’d put his gloves back on, you noticed) so he could demonstrate how to get on the bike. Once he was sat, he nodded his head for you to join him.

 

“OKAY, JUST BRING YOUR LEG UP AND GET ON THE SEAT BEHIND ME - CLOSER, YOU WON’T BE AS COMFORTABLE IF YOU SIT FARTHER BACK, OKAY, NOW PUT YOUR FEET DOWN ON THAT LITTLE LEDGE - KEEP THEM FLAT, ALRIGHT?” You did as he said, but found yourself at a loss for what to do next. You remembered to put the back of your dress under your but, but didn’t know what to do beyond that.

 

In the movies, the girls always put their arms around the guy’s midsection…

 

“WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME!! MAKE SURE TO LEAN ON ME, TOO. IT’LL HELP ME KEEP THE BIKE MORE STABLE.”

 

Not needing to be told twice, you hugged Blue from behind and made sure to put as little distance between the two of you as possible.

 

For a second, you thought you felt Blue’s ribcage expand and fall quickly, almost like a human hiccup before he asked, “DID YOU… DID YOU USE MY SOAP?”

 

What?! He was wearing a helmet, how could he tell?

 

“Y-Yeah, sorry, I won’t do it again if it bothered you…” Last time you'd used Papyrus', and he hadn't cared - neither had Sans and you were pretty sure the piney soap in the bathroom was his. Perhaps Blue was sensitive to that?

 

“NO! IT’S FINE! WE HAVEN’T ACTUALLY GONE OUT TO GET YOU ANY OF YOUR OWN… MAYBE WE CAN GO OUT AGAIN THIS WEEKEND TO GET SOME?”

 

“Sure,” you chirped, “Thanks, Blue!”

 

“NO PROBLEM…” Then, he turned the bike on and revved the engine. You jumped, suddenly feeling like you hadn’t been holding onto him as tight as you should have. Tucking your helmet-clad skull against Blue’s back as best you could, you wound your arms tighter against him and felt a grin grow on your face.

 

Blue backed out of the driveway slowly, as it was a long path that lead out of the ‘woods’ from the detached garage, but picked up speed as you neared the road.

 

When you made it to the road, though?

 

Blue seemed to follow rules well - you didn’t seem to be zooming around the other cars and he never tried to weave between them like you’d seen some rude motorcyclists do. Your turns also seemed safe, but…

 

Riding was  _ exhilarating _ . 

 

Although your skull was safely tucked into Blue’s back, you could feel the wind as if it was cutting straight through you, and your clothes rippled around you. It was almost like you could  _ hear _ the wind as well as you tore through the air on Blue’s bike.

 

It seemed like you’d arrived at the embassy in no time, sharply contrasting the day before when Slim had taken you. You knew logically that Slim had taken less time to get you to the embassy, but due to the stress you were feeling, it had felt like hours. On Blue’s bike? You almost wished you could ride for hours.

 

You hopped of the bike when Blue parked, making sure that your dress was proper before turning to thank him for the ride and give him the extra helmet, which he strapped down to the back with his duffel bag.

 

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! REMEMBER, I’LL BE RIGHT HERE WHEN YOU GET OUT - I’M TAKING YOU TO LUNCH, SO DON’T WORRY ABOUT BUYING ANYTHING!”

 

You waved him off one more time before you traveled up the steps of the embassy, much calmer than the first time you had since you knew what you were doing.

 

//////////

 

Sarah greeted you per usual in the otherwise empty room, and you sat down for the next few hours to watch some tapes then take a few recall tests from what you’d seen.

 

Today was also much less hectic than the last time you’d been at the embassy - you inferred that without the ambassador here to stir things up most humans weren’t interested in such a monster-filled building.

 

… Not that the embassy was super interesting by itself. Most monsters seemed to be here to either pick up mail or file papers.

 

Like Blue had said, he was waiting outside for you, leaning against his bike in a ‘cool guy’ pose with the extra helmet tucked under his arm. You waved to catch his attention and scrambled to catch the helmet when he tossed it at you.

 

“I’VE GOT IT!” He said excitedly when you got closer, “I’M GOING TO TAKE YOU TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE RESTAURANTS, THEN TO OUR MYSTERY DESTINATION!”

 

“Looking forward to it!” You told him truthfully.

 

//////////

 

The restaurant he took you to was a small mexican-themed restaurant run by a lovely monster-human couple who served you enthusiastically. While there weren’t many other patrons present in the restaurant when you were there, the food was good.

 

“IT’S USUALLY MORE POPULATED AT NIGHT… IT’S A VERY POPULAR DATE LOCATION!”

 

It was then, munching on the complimentary chips while waiting for the large plate of tamales that Blue had ordered for the both of you to share, that you realized what this must look like - a Date.

 

Two monsters on an outing together, sitting across from each other at a table for two, sharing a chip basket and laughing over silly things… 

 

Blue didn’t seem to notice how you’d stiffened up then settled back down.

 

No… there’s no way  _ this _ is a date - Blue was just a friendly monster from another universe showing you around a universe you, too, were new to.

 

It didn’t matter that he was, yes, very handsome or that his manners were impeccable. It didn’t matter that he’d given you more genuine compliments today than you’d received probably in the last fifteen years.

 

With this thought, you were able to happily much on delicious tamales with your friend and discuss differences between the universes.

 

“WAS MEXICAN FOOD DIFFERENT WHERE YOU’RE FROM?” Blue asked, eye lights once again stars. He seemed very interested in comparing the two surface timelines.

 

“No,” you responded, looking down at the food. “From what I can tell, after a certain point in time, our worlds started developing very similarly culture wise. Some of the only things that changed from our universes are social expectations.”

 

You hummed a little then continued, “I’m unsure of what that point in time is, but it’s before the era of industrialization and after the dominant religions were formed. It’s a pretty big time gap, but, well, history’s never been my strongest point of interest. Probably around Europe’s feudal period.”

 

“WOW! IT’S KIND OF ODD TO THINK ABOUT A WORLD WHERE MONSTERS AND HUMANS WERE NEVER SEPARATED!”

 

“Hmm… maybe not physically separated, but there was a time when there was a lot more segregation than when I left. It was kind of like a class sort of thing - monsters and humans occupied the same area, but never really spoke or interacted with each other. It was pretty looked down upon.”

 

Blue nodded his head. You were actually kind of surprised how interested he was in this sort of thing. Not that you minded, learning was one of your favorite things to do, and Blue’s questions required you to think a lot about what you’ve learned so far.

 

“YOUR TIMELINE IS IN THE FUTURE, RIGHT? SO HOW OLD WOULD YOU BE IN THIS UNIVERSE?”

 

“Oh, jeez,” You laughed. True, you were forty two back in your universe, but in this year? “Probably twenty three or something…”

 

In monster years, being forty two was still very young adult - especially since you were a skeleton, but twenty five is barely out of stripes.

 

“WHAT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY? IS IT ODD BEING A FEW DECADES BEHIND?”

 

“Good question!” You praised, smiling when Blue puffed out his chest. “Actually, you guys are pretty close to where we were! The royal scientist is doing a really good job, because the phones here are very similar to some of the newest models in my universe, and virtual reality might become even better than what we had at this time. The medicine is behind, though.”

 

You and Blue chatted for a bit more before the waiter brought you your check, at which point both of you were stuffed with good food.

 

“So, where are we off to next?” You asked as You hopped back on Blue’s bike. At this rate it was quickly becoming one of your favorite modes of transportation.

 

“GERSON’S!” He replied, zooming off to a small shop that actually wasn’t too far away.

 

Gerson’s, as it turns out, is a small antique shop full of magical and mundane goods. Most items looked old or worn, but still held an undeniable charm to them. Almost like the previous owners had left a piece of their SOUL with them.

 

Gerson, himself, was a rather old tortoise monster.

 

“Wa ha ha! If it isn’t Blue - oh, and who’s this young rascal?”

 

You blushed at the attention - sure, as you’d previously stated, forty two was extremely young for monsters, but after teaching in a mostly-human school district for the past fifteen years, you’d gotten used to being treated as ‘older’.

 

… Human-wise, your age might have meant you were middle aged, after all. It was still rather difficult to see yourself as a young person, especially after all you’d gone through. You were used to being called ‘ma’am’, and the school even referred to you as a ‘seasoned’ teacher.

 

Blue put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you close to your side, causing that small blush to increase.

 

Not a date… not a date.... right… 

 

“THIS IS MY FRIEND, CHIP! SHE’S STAYING WITH US FOR A BIT.”

 

“Ho ho, friend, you say? Well, look around, kiddo - I’ve got tons of junk that needs to get cleaned out, wah ha!”

 

From there, Gerson left the two of you to your own.

 

“He seems like he knows you pretty well - do you come here often?” You inquired, brushing your phalanges along a display of shiny rocks and gems.

 

“... In My Universe, He Was Somewhat Of A Grandfather To Papyrus And I - He Worked At A Shop In Waterfall And Collected Junk That Fell Into The Underground. He’s A Big Reason Why We Went To College. He’s Actually Not Too Different Here! The Only Difference I Can Find Is That He Seems To Be Some Sort Of War Hero… Which Is Super Cool!”

 

You giggled at Blue’s enthusiasm - it seemed like he really cared about Gerson. “That’s nice, but you didn’t answer my question.” you reminded him.

 

“Oh!” Blue blushed, “Yes, I Come Here Often To Look For Small Knick-Knacks Or Something Papy Might Enjoy.”

 

“That’s sweet…” you said, eyeing a particularly pretty gem, “You and Stretch really care about each other, huh?”

 

“Well. THAT’S WHAT BROTHERS DO, RIGHT?”

 

“... Yeah.” You said, although to yourself a single thought stood out -  _ Not all of them.. _

 

From across the room, a strange shininess caught your eye lights, drawing you away from the gems you were looking at. Blue noticed, and quickly was able to spot what had gotten your attention.

 

“That’s a pretty jacket…” You said, walking over to feel the material in your hands - soft, like you’d known it would be.

 

It was jet black - dark than dark, really, with soft inner lining. It was a zip-up jacket that had a second layer of large, shiny black buttons to do over the zipper, mostly for styling reasons, you inferred. It also had a hood to hide your face or to protect against the cold.

 

… You liked it.

 

Blue looked uneasy, though. “Is something wrong?” 

 

“N-NO! IT’S UM, A BEAUTIFUL JACKET… DID YOU WANT IT?”

 

You shook your head, “I don’t have any cash on me right now - it probably doesn’t fit, anyway.” But it did. You could see already that it was perfect, even for your petite size.

 

“Find something?” Gerson asked from his place at the front of the store.

 

Blue gave you an encouraging nod, so you held up the article of clothing to where Gerson could see it.

 

“Yeah, actually… I don’t have any money, though.”

 

Gerson appraised the coat, looking confused. 

 

“I’ve never seen that jacket before… Som’un else must’ve left it here. It’s broken, too.” He said pointing at the collar of the jacket. Startled, you realized he was right. It was missing the top button.

 

You didn’t see how Blue’s skull blanched.

 

“Oh… did you want to put it in lost and found, then?” You offered, holding it out.

 

The tortoise shook his head, waving his hands, “Nah, you can keep it - do I look like I need any more junk layin’ around! Wah ha ha, first time customer discount. I wouldn’t sell ya somethin’ broken, anyways!”

 

You held the jacket close to you, grinning. “Thanks!” You looked over to Blue to show your excitement over getting the pretty jacket for free (even if it was broken..), but he looked sick.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

He nodded stiffly, forcing his gaze away from the jacket.

 

“YES - I DON’T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME - DO YOU WANT TO LOOK AROUND SOME MORE?”

 

You shook your head, “No, I think I’m good. Do you need to go home?”

 

“I THINK… I THINK THAT MIGHT BE BEST…”

 

“Okay… are you good to drive, or should I call someone?”

 

“I CAN DRIVE - BYE, GERSON!”

 

The old tortoise bid the two of you goodbye, wishing ‘you two love birds’ good luck. That had made you feel like you might turn into an eggplant, so you hurried you and Blue out of the store.

 

Blue helped you put on the jacket under the leather jacket you were borrowing, and it felt like heaven against your bones. It was a little difficult to bend your arms since you were wearing two thick layers, though.

 

Good thing holding onto Blue didn’t need much elbow bendenge.

 

You got home at around four, which left plenty of time for you to change into your pjs and put the jacket away before heading downstairs to see that most of the household was back.

 

You chatted with them for a bit, and were surprised when Sans had to get up to make dinner. Hot dogs, apparently.

 

(according to him, the only thing that he could make)

 

(Papyrus corrected him, talking about some sort of ‘egg-pie’)

 

For the most part, it was a delightful night, full of friendship and funny arguments over trivial things - the only thing that struck you as odd was that neither Blue nor Stretch had joined you the entire night. Not even for dinner.

 

You fell into a fitful sleep at night that was plagued by worries for the brothers and ghost dogs.

 

/////////////

 

All Blue had wanted to do was sleep.

 

But it seemed that these days that was too much to ask from the universe.

 

The Button and your photo taunted him from his dresser.

 

Flashes from this night’s nightmare played in his skull.

 

_ Sans was on the phone. It felt oddly heavy in his hand, and the voice on the other end sounded far, far away. He had to strain to hear anything they said. _

 

_ “... are you okay?” His brother’s voice came from the device, staticy but recognizable. _

 

_ Sans let out a sigh of relief. _

 

_ “YES… HOW’S COLLEGE?” _

 

_ “‘s good… i met the royal scientist - they gave a lecture today, and stopped me on my way out… “ _

 

_ What? The royal scientist? Something tugged at the back of Sans’ mind… his brother shouldn’t be talking to the royal scientist… _

 

_ “PAPY -” He tried to warn his brother, but found that he couldn’t speak. Something was stuck in his mouth, fighting it’s way out. _

 

_ As Sans dropped the phone, he coughed out a flower. _

 

A yellow rose.

 

_ More came up after the first, nearly choking Sans - his vision was becoming clouded, and he realized it was because more were trying to escape through his eye sockets. _

 

_ Before his vision was completely destroyed, though, he saw that the roses had something red on them. _

 

_ Blood. _

 

_ Blood poured out of his mouth along with the flowers, leaving a mess on the floor. _

 

_ Sans fell to his knees, retching out more and more of the toxic plants. _

 

… Sans shivered. What a terrible dream. He had no idea what it meant. He didn’t know what any of his dreams meant.

 

None of it made any sense. Most of the time he was himself, but then he was someone else… and they didn’t feel like dreams. They felt like memories.

 

But whose? He didn’t remember any of that happening… didn’t understand the significance of the flowers.

 

And why did they include Papyrus and a royal scientist? The only scientist Blue could recall was Undyne, and she certainly didn’t resemble that cloaked monster he found haunting his dreams.

 

What’s more is the memories where he wasn’t himself.

 

He again looked at the photo and button. Maybe it was guilt? Maybe he should give them back to you… yeah… that was it.

 

A glance at the clock told Blue that it wasn’t the time to be waking you up, though, so he carefully crept up the stairs and left the photo right outside your door.

 

He lingered for a bit, still holding onto the button.

 

Stars, he was such a creep! He was standing outside your door, contemplating keeping something of yours for no reason while you slept.

 

… That jacket. It had scared him earlier. It was missing a button. Identical to the one he held now. If that wasn't’ a sign that he should give it back, then what was? A sign slapping him in the face telling him?

 

He felt terrible, but he left the photo and kept the button, slinking back down to his room.

 

… He wasn’t ready to let go yet. He felt as if there was something important tugging at him, whispering to him that he should keep the button and discover something. He didn’t know what, though, and wasn’t sure if he ever would.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so remember how i said i was going to be too busy to post this week? that was a lie. i was up into the wee hours of the morning writing so you could read today!!!
> 
> yay!!!
> 
> !!  
> ...
> 
> !


	14. red looks like shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the middle of the night and you're not sure if red's high when he asks you out for ice cream.
> 
> ... but to be honest, he /looks/ more like he's coming down from a bad high.

 

 

You don’t know what woke you up, or at exactly what time you woke up.

 

All you remember is hearing the little ping on your phone, seeing the screen light up in the utter darkness of your room and suddenly realizing that you had, in fact, woken up.

 

Rolling over, you grabbed the device off your nightstand and unlocked the phone with a simple movement, the magical technology inside recognizing your signature instantly and unlocking.

 

A text.

 

From Red?

 

Interest piqued, you read through the message.

 

**_brickhouse_ **

 

**_2:30 a.m._ **

_hey_

_u up?_

 

What did Red want at this hour? Why was he even awake? Confused, you decided to send a text inquiring about his actions.

 

**_You_ **

**_2:32 a.m._ **

_Ye,_

_What’s up?_

 

**_brickhouse_ **

**_2:32 a.m._ **

_i want ice cream_

 

**_You_ **

**_2:33 a.m._ **

_????_

_Okay, and….._

_We have some in the freezer???_

 

**_brickhouse_ **

**_2:34 a.m._ **

_go w me to get ice cream_

 

**_You_ **

**_2:36 a.m._ **

_…._

_To the freezer?_

 

**_brickhouse_ **

**_2:38 a.m._ **

_na_

_i got sum place betr_

_meet me in the grge_

_ <image attached> _

 

Red sent a selfie of himself in the garage, in front of his bike, grinning and giving the camera a thumbs up… but, despite his cheery demeanor, he looked _terrible_ . The bottom of his round eye sockets was so red that you could have been convinced someone had dragged a paintbrush underneath them, from what you could see his bones were grimy and his clothes were more rumpled than _Sans’_.

 

You decided to go and meet him in the garage, if not to ‘get ice cream’, then to at least get him to go to bed or take a shower… you hadn’t seen someone looking that bad since you were on the streets and happened to pass by a group of junkies…

 

… You shivered, remembering their nearly dead eyes, glassed over in some sort of temporary high.

 

At least Red didn’t look like that.

 

**_You_ **

**_2:41 a.m._ **

_Okay…_

_Be there in a sec…_

 

You only took a few moments to decide that you were decent enough to travel into the garage, deciding to forgo slippers as you weren’t wearing any socks. You _did_ , however, want to be quiet as to not wake the others in your little midnight expedition, so you coated your feet in magic, giving them cushion like human muscle and skin would create, and made your way downstairs.

 

The door to the garage creaked loudly, causing you to cringe - who knows what the other members of the household would think if they found you sneaking into the garage at two in the morning to meet an exhausted looking Red?

 

True to his selfie, though, to your relief, was Red. He was laying on the floor belly up, skull pillowed by his arms and legs kicked out. He didn’t even seem to notice your arrival.

 

“... Red?” You asked softly. You tried to ignore that your feet were freezing. Bones did not feel temperature that well, but your magic sure as heck did.

 

He made a sound of acknowledgement, something that sounded like a grunt. Slowly, he rolled over to his side then pushed himself up.

 

He gave you the once over when he was standing.

 

“... ya sure yer okay in that?”

 

You felt a little offended, “Well, I’m not trying to impress any one - not to mention that you aren’t looking so great yourself, casanova… shower in a pit of grease?” At the same time, you knew that you were wearing your borrowed sweatpants and turtleneck - both of which were too big for you and obviously well loved if the food stains on the sweatpants were any indication.

 

Red held his arms out and patted the air, “woah woah, ain’t nothin’ like that, dolly, ‘s just i thought maybe ya’d want sumthin’ heavier for goin’ out.”

 

“Oh, uh, sorry - but, um, I don’t think you’re going anywhere but the shower, and I’m going to bed.” With that, you reached out to grab at Red’s hand, intent on dragging him to the shower he shared with his brother. And, well, if Slim woke up, it was on Red.

 

“ _please,_ dolly? it’ll be real good, promise.” To add onto his plea, Red looked at you with the wide set sockets he could muster, his eyelights dilating to fill the majority of his socket. Honestly, the fact that he looked like such a wreck made the him look like an owl on drugs, but nonetheless it sparked a twinge of pity in you.

 

… Mostly because he looked like an owl on drugs.

 

You sighed. “Fine… but you have to shower after. And go to bed. I wasn’t joking when I said you looked like you showered with grease.”

 

Red, probably incapable of feeling shame, just grinned at you. “we’ll see about that shower, dolly, but i can accept your other statements.”

 

You were about to roll your eyes, but it seemed Red wasn’t done with whatever he was saying - in a split second, he’d leaned forward to where you could feel his hot (unnecessary) breaths fan over your face and under your sweater.

 

“though i might be persuaded if i had a lil’ _company_.”

 

At this point your brain was too tired to fully register what the implications of what he was saying to you - it was mostly focused on how, _wow_ , he sure smelled just as good as he looked. While usually he had a spicy scent that had a feint musk you couldn’t decide between being odd and wanting to take a deep breath in, it was decidedly disgusting in the moment. It pushed too much into that (mustardy?) musk.

 

You pushed him away with a single phalange. You almost expected to see grease on it when you pulled your hand back.

 

“... You’re tired. This is a bad idea, you can shower in the morning.” Apparently, tired, ice cream-horny Red could not be reasoned with, because he grabbed your hand back from where you’d retracted it.

 

“... please?”

 

Stars, you were a sucker for earnest requests.

 

“... Only ice cream. We eat ice cream, then we leave. And you _have_ to shower. And brush your teeth.”

 

Red grinned, using he arm he still had in his grasp to pull you closer, much like Sans had done the other day.

 

It felt a little unfair to compare them to each other, especially like this, but they seemed so parallel in an odd way. Two sides of the same coin.

 

Then you thought back to Blue and Stretch. Unlike the other two versions of the brothers that resided in the house, they were almost completely unique to you - sure, there were some trends, like how if you squinted then tilted your head you could almost say that Blue had a ‘Papyrus’ personality and Stretch a ‘Sans’, but perhaps those differences were just more obvious.

 

There were definitely things you didn’t know about the other four. Sans’ short rendition of his experience with having Gaster as a father proved that. Papyrus’ scar confirmed it. It was difficult to imagine a world where Gaster might have been anything but the best father figure around, but then again, you’d only come into his life whenever he was more sure of himself.

 

How would things have been different if you’d gotten to know Gaster when he was younger? How would things be different if there were a Sans and Papyrus in your universe?

 

You’d like to think that you’d befriend them. Stars know you’re already getting attached to the ones here.

 

“dolly?” Red asked, puffs of air heating up the side of your skull.

 

It was then that the position you’d been standing in, thinking about this, occurred to you. When Red had pulled you in, he’d wrapped his big arms around you and tucked you into his smelly but comfortable chest - with Sans, you’d been locked in an embrace during your transport, but that was mostly you.

 

With Red? It felt like you were small toy being cradled by a careful child. You couldn’t even see anything beyond the fabric of his hoodie or his sweater.

 

… It was kind of nice. Ignoring his hideous odor.

 

“doll… chip… chipperdoodle… can ya hear me?”

 

You snorted against his sternum, skeletal grin stretching wider. “Chipperdoodle?”

 

In this position, you could feel his chest bounce with his own restrained laughter.

 

“gotcher attention, didn’ it?”

 

“Fair point,” you conceded, deciding to finally step out of Red’s hold and face him. “So, where are we? What is this mysterious ice cream store?”

 

“ricky’s”

 

… Ricky’s. As in the bar. As in the place where Red got so upset that he had to get smashed at Grillby’s then drop tools onto sheet metal?

 

For ice cream?

 

“Elaborate.” You demanded.

 

“eeeehhhhh? a bar? called ricky’s? run by a human named ricky?”

 

“.... Okay.” You conceded, knowing that Red was probably strong enough to get you out of any trouble he may incur - that and your current energy level made it very hard to carry on arguments beyond the initial ‘no’ or ‘why’.

 

… Even though you were still relying on your magic to cushion your feet. They were on the bare pavement, but you were too tired right now to care and once you dismissed your magic, your feet wouldn’t be any dirtier than when you’d left your room.

 

The building itself looked rather charming - very similar to Grillby’s, which could have been the initial appeal for Red, but it was obvious once you entered that this was _not Grillby’s_.

 

…But not entirely in a bad way.

 

Whereas the patrons of Grillby’s were very calm and relaxed for the most part, the patrons of Ricky’s were _loud_.

 

Again, not in a bad way from what you could tell. At least they were too into what they were doing to notice the arrival of Red.

 

Even though it was in the wee hours of the morning there was a rowdy pool game going on in the corner, a card game at another table (old maid? Go fish? All you knew was that it didn’t look like poker and you’d never played some of the other card games as a child or adult). At the bar was a fairly old human man with leathery tan-ish skin and hair that was graying from a smooth dark chestnut.

 

He and the bartender were laughing uproariously at something, the old man slapping his hand against the counter.

 

The bartender himself looked much like the older man, but not exactly - in the way that related humans often did - the same shape nose and natural eyebrow line. As he was a younger man, though not very young by human standards (around his early forties, perhaps?) , his hair was still black (not chestnut) as the night with only a few discolorations and his skin still smooth and more tan than the old man’s. Underneath his skin, though, were well - defined muscles. He was still rather skinny looking, though, so you supposed his muscle definition was from doing daily activities rather than conscious working-out.

 

He looked almost… familiar?

 

It hit you in the sleep-deprived head so suddenly you actually almost fell back. You pulled on Red’s sleeve harshly, actually almost managing to actually make him trip.

 

“Red.” you said seriously whenever his skull was level with your own.

 

“what???” far from angry, Red sounded confused.

 

“The bartender. What’s his name?” You pointed discreetly as you could to the human in question.

 

Red looked at the bartender, then back to you. “... why? do ya… think he’s hot?” Was it just you or did Red sound a little hurt? “because i know humans are appealin’ an’ all with their skin an’ whatnot, but he’s a lil’ older an’ humans already live short as it is-”

 

“Red.” You redirected, letting go of his jacket and holding his face inches away from yours with both of your hands. A light blush lit up his skull as you continued, “Name. Of the bartender. Now, please.”

 

“h-henry?” He semi-squeaked, taking in a deep breath of air when you released him and looking at you with wide sockets.

 

Fuck. You knew it.

 

“what? didja know ‘im in yer timeline?” These skeletons read you far too easily.

 

“... You could say that.” You responded, still thinking.

 

“didja fuck?”

 

You sputtered, staring at Red indignantly. “What the hell? No!”

 

He let out a sigh of what you assumed was relief, “thank the stars… i’d hate t’think the old bastard had more game than me.”

 

“Shut up.” You really did not want to think about him in that context…  considering…

 

Considering he was your father.

 

It had taken you a while to recognize him since you’d only ever seen one photo of him, and even that photo was taken when he was around twenty - his wedding with your mother. By then Cambria had already been born and the two had been saving for a fancy-ish wedding.

 

At the time your mother had been pregnant with you, but the couple couldn’t have looked happier.

 

… Kind of weird to think that you were the same age in this timeline.

 

And to know that he was your father when he had no emotional connection to you and didn’t even know who you were.

 

“c’mon…” Red said eventually, talking you by the hand towards the bar, “i’ll introduce ya… er, in this timeline.”

 

As you neared the bar, the older man turned around and saw Red. When he did, his face lit up, eyes shining as he waved the two of you over.

 

“Ah, Red! Come here, _chico_ , who’s that you got with you?” The man winked, nodding his head towards you, “Oh! A _lady - hola, señorita esqueleta_ \- Red, pal, is she perhaps _your_ skeleton lady?”

 

Red laughed along with the man, patting your back as he introduced you to the old man, “stop trying to speak spanish, old man. we both know you don’t know crap.” It was a playful gib.

 

“I’m learning everyday!” The old man protested, patting his chest, “My beautiful wife - _mi amor_ is teaching me!”

 

“alwright, alwright, time t’introduce ya - this is chip, and no, she ain’t _my_ lady - not yet, at least.”

 

Not _yet?!_ What was that supposed to mean? - You shot Red a curious look, but he wasn’t focused on you at the moment.

 

“Oh ho ho! Nice to meet you, Chip. The name’s Ricardo - but you can call me Ricky.” The owner of the bar? His name and enthusiasm betrayed the connection.

 

“H-Hi… nice to meet you, Ricky…” you gave the old man your hand, jolting in surprise whenever he shook it vigorously. Guess his age hid his strength.

 

“If I may take a moment to introduce myself,” the bartender spoke up, looking towards you and nodding his head in acknowledgement, “The name’s Henry, Henry Detalo. I’m Ricardo’s son.”

 

With wide sockets, you nodded back at him, reeling in disbelief.

 

… His voice. You’d never spoken to him, but you’d know his voice anywhere. It was a voice that you often heard in your dreams, hidden amidst other childhood memories, like your mind was holding onto the only part of him that still remained with you.

 

“What’s with that look, _chica_? You look like you’ve seen a ghost! Tell me, is it because I look so young to have such an old son?”

 

“Y-Yeah,” you managed after a moment, “something like that.”

 

You felt Red’s curious eye lights lingering on your figure, but ignored them.

 

That must mean that Ricky was your grandfather… a small memory of your grandmother telling you about your father’s side of the family blipped past your eye lights.

 

_“Oh, he was a stubborn man… always arguing with poor Henry… I think he was scared, to be honest.”_

 

_“Scared of what, abuela?”_

 

_“Scared of your mother hurtin’ Henry - That man worked himself into the ground after his son left. Didn’t stay with us long enough to see how wrong he was.”_

 

Unlike your grandmother, your grandfather hadn’t been as supportive of your parents’ relationship. You did recall your grandmother telling you that he’d owned a bar. Your father had left when your mother had Cambria, though.

 

The bar had unfortunately closed after your grandfather died - there was no one to take care of it.

 

It seems though, that in this timeline your father had never married a monster, for obvious reasons, which is why he was still working at the bar and why your grandfather was still alive - the stress of running an establishment alone and losing his son hadn’t aged him as much.

 

You wondered if your father had ever married.

 

Putting those thoughts at the back of your head, you sat down next to Red - with Red in between you and Ricky.

 

“welp, might as well get what he came here for,” Red sighed, giving you a dramatic look, “chippy wants t’get home fast t’get her beauty sleep.”

 

“You look like you need it far more than her, pal.” Henry deadpanned.

 

“Trust me, you’re lucky you’re behind the bar,” you started, unfiltered, “he smells way worse than he looks.”

 

Both Henry and Ricky started laughing full-bellied at your statement, Ricky going as far as to slap Red’s massive back a few times.

 

“She’s got you there, _Rojo_.” The old man gasped.

 

“yeah, she’s a real _funny bones_.” Red responded flatly. “jus’ get me some ice cream.”

 

“Two ice creams coming right up.” Henry said, leaving through the door that lead to the kitchen.

 

When Henry was gone, Red turned towards Ricky. You couldn’t see his face, but you could feel the way the air became heavier as he spoke.

 

“those assholes been botherin’ ya, ricky?”

 

“There isn’t anything more you can do about it and you know that, Red.”

 

“so they have.”

 

“Henry can handle them.”

 

“henry ain’t as strong as he used to be, pops.”

 

“... We still have Cam around.”

 

“you know he ain’t no fighter, pops! th’ kid’s goin’ ta college!”

 

“Red.” Ricky sounded serious. And tired. “Not tonight.”

 

“then when? ‘cause it seems t’me like yer gonna lose this place and you ain’t doin’ a damn thing to keep it!”

 

“I said not tonight!” Ricky’s voice rose and for a second you were scared - the bar quieted and you Honest-To-Stars thought Red was going to start throwing fists with an old man in his own bar.

 

Luckily, it didn’t progress to that, though, as Red calmed almost instantly.

 

“... fuck, sorry, man.”

 

“It’s okay, Red, I know that your temper is like your name.”

 

“still. i just… i dun’ wanna see anythin’ bad happen t’you _or_ this place.”

 

“You lack patience, Boy. You are like my grandson - big ambitions, little patience. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll retire to bed. It’s getting late - or early. Cam is busy tomorrow and I must take the morning shift.”

 

“... ‘kay, just’ dun’ work yerself too hard, old man.”

 

Ricky chuckled as he walked towards the kitchen - you supposed there must be a stairway in there that lead up to an apartment.

 

“So.” you said once he was gone.

 

Red turned to you suddenly, almost like he was surprised and had forgotten that you were even there. Honestly, with how into it he was getting with Ricky, you wouldn’t be surprised.

 

“... sorry, dolly. i promised ya ice cream an’ instead ya got a buncha drama.”

 

“Well, I’m still getting ice cream, at least.” You gestured to where Henry (your dad?) was bringing out the ice cream.

 

You had to admit that it _did_ look like good ice cream. Your spoon glided through it like butter and it was very creamy. Red ate his like an animal - no spoon, just by bringing the bowl up to his teeth and licking the thing clean.

 

He was finished in about thirty seconds and was forced to watch you as you savored your own bowl. Did you draw it out a bit longer than necessary? Yes. Did you feel bad about it? No.

 

“one bite?” Red pleaded.

 

You considered not giving in, but were eventually once again persuaded by his demonic owlish look.

 

“One bite,” you conceded, bringing up a bite on your spoon and offering it to Red.

 

Unsurprisingly, his jaw closed around the spoon almost as soon as it was in front of his face, sharp teeth nearly bending the metal.

 

“Easy, Red. If you break anymore of our silverware you’ll have to buy us a new set.”

 

Henry, your dad, who had previously gone unnoticed, spoke up.

 

Red leaned back, pulling the spoon straight out of your hand as he did so.

 

“Hey!” you exclaimed.

 

“put it on mah tab.” He told Henry, spoon still held between his teeth.

 

Henry gave you a sympathetic look, pulling another spoon out from behind the bar and handing it to you, “Here, sweetheart.”

 

He then turned to Red, a stern look coming over his face, “Your tab is getting very large at this point… I don’t even know why my father lets you keep that damn thing. I _also_ can’t see why she” He pointed to you, “puts up with you at all.”

 

You shrugged, “He’s alright, I guess.”

 

Red chuckled, obviously unaffected by the criticism.

 

“ya know y’love me.”

 

Henry sighed, going back to cleaning glasses like a stereotypical bartender.

 

“You do remind me of my son, Cambria - although even he is more mannered than you.”

 

His son. Cambria. As in your father’s son, Cambria.

 

As in your brother Cambria? As in a Cambria in this universe?

 

As in a possibly human Cambria?

 

How does that even work?! You couldn’t even begin to imagine what Cambria looks like as a human.

 

… Wait…. Does that mean there’s a human _you_ in this universe!?

 

“Y-You have a son?” You asked your father.

 

He nodded, a faint smile coming over his face, “Yes, he’s attending college soon, when he saves up the money.”

 

“Do you have any other children?” This was it. You were going to find out if there was another you running around.

 

Henry shook his head sadly, “No, my wife died of illness a few years after he was born. I never remarried.”

 

So that was a no on alternate versions of yourself.

 

An idea seemed to overtake him, and soon he was setting the glass down and rifling through his pockets, “I have a picture of him, if you would like to see?”

 

You perked up - perhaps there was no you in the universe, but you were still curious as to what a human Cam looked like.

 

In Henry’s wallet was a small photo - what looked like a high school yearbook picture, actually.

 

In it was a boy that looked much like your father, but with lighter eyes and an easier grin. It was actually very easy to see how this was your brother - their smile was the same and this human had a dimple in exactly the same place as Cambria.

 

There was also the slope of the shoulder as far as you could see from the picture - although this Cambria’s looked unburdened.

 

Probably never had to deal with poverty or join a gang.

 

“He looks like you.” you commented.

 

“I know, he got almost nothing but his eyes from his mother.”

 

“Mother? Your wife, right? What was she like?”

 

“Oh, full of life and love… my beautiful Scriptura… I know she would be proud of him today.”

 

Scriptura - your mother’s name. So it seems that everybody from your family (besides yourself) is accounted for in this universe. A sadness pulled at your SOUL that you were too late to meet your mother.

 

Another part of yourself told you that this wasn’t _your_ father and that this Scriptura wasn’t _your_ mother. This Cambria wasn’t even your brother.

 

They were a happy family. All happy without you. Sure, your mother was dead, but it happened a while ago. They seemed to have healed and become stronger as a result. Again, without you.

 

In that moment, you decided that this wasn’t your family. Sure, they looked like your family, had the same names as your family, but they weren’t the ones you’d grown up with. Or _hadn’t_ grown up with. They didn’t know you and you didn’t know them.

 

Sure, the bar was cool, and you’d definitely come back, but you wouldn’t hold any fantasies in your head about them taking you in or anything - because they would be just that, fantasies.

 

You looked down to see that your ice cream had melted.

 

“She must have been wonderful… Well, I think we’re done here, huh, Red?”

 

… Red had fallen asleep, spoon still in mouth, red drool falling from his jaw and soft snores echoing from his chest with his arms pillowing his skull on the bar.

 

“I’ll put it on his tab.” Henry said.

 

….

 

Waking up Red consisted of much whisper-yelling, shoving, pulling and light hitting. Henry had poured a glass of water over the skeleton’s head, which finally resulted in him waking up.

 

He didn’t jolt up at the cold liquid, though, he gradually opened his sockets, a confused look in his fuzzy eye sockets as he looked around.

 

When he was fully aware, though, he darted up and let out a slew of curses.

 

…..

 

Which lead you to where you were now, taking a short walk with Red nowhere as he ‘stretched his bones’.

 

He promised to shortcut you back to the house after a small walk.

 

“sooooooooo” he started, “you seemed awfully interested in cam.”

 

“Uh, yeah, I guess?” Where was he going with this?

 

“and you didn’t fuck henry… so tell me, didja fuck cam? is that why?” Again with that hurt tone - but, seriously, would he stop?!

 

“No! That’s disgusting!”

 

“‘cause he’s a human?”

 

“No! Because he’s my _brother_!”

 

Red stopped to give you a shocked look. “brother?” He repeated.

 

You waved your hands around, “Yes! Henry? He’s my dad. Or, not in this timeline - he was my dad?”

 

“... but he’s human?”

 

“Yeah, well in my universe Scriptura is a skeleton and had Cambria by herself. Then me.”

 

“that’s fucky.” Red said after a moment, settling on possibly one of the least smooth lines of all time.

 

“A little bit!” you responded, more than a little exasperated at being accused of doing the do with two of your family members in about an hour.

 

“... so, _have_ ya ever, y’know, _done it_ with a human b’fore? i know they weren’t exactly rare from where you’re from.”

 

“Why are you so interested in whether or not I’ve screwed a human?!”

 

“... but, like, _have you_? one night stand? committed relationship? did he have a big di-”

 

“Oh My Stars! Yes, I’ve done it with a human! Are you happy?”

 

“... one night stand?”

 

“No, Red, it was my girlfriend, I fucked my girlfriend. Several times. Anything else you want to know?”

 

Red’s jaw fell open.

 

“oh my god. you’re gay. how long have you been gay?!”

 

“I don’t know, maybe since I was _born_?”

 

Red sat down on the sidewalk, holding his skull in his hands. The was staring into space, a distant look on his face.

 

“this entire time… this entire time and you never told me you were into women?!”

 

“Well it’s not _just_ women - I’m pan.”

 

Red took a steadying breath, looking up at you after he exhaled, “oh, thank asgore. let’s go home.”

 

You didn’t have time to process it before Red yanked you down next to him and placed his arms around you, holding you close as he transported you across time and space back to the house.

 

You landed in what you guess was Red’s room - it sure smelled like him enough. And not in the good way. It was like his Bad Odor multiplied by ten and in the dark of night you could see dark piles on his floor that you _hoped_ were only piles of dirty clothes.

 

You pushed away from Red, the smell becoming too much, and fell of the bed with a thump.

 

“... sorry, dolly.”

 

“Just take a shower. And brush your teeth. And sleep, Stars Damn it.”

 

“okay. good night.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” You grumbled, pulling yourself up off the ground and walking towards the exit, “good _morning_ , bone head.”

 

Thankfully, you heard the shower start up from the direction of Red’s room after you left, signaling that he was doing as you told him.

 

You, yourself, took a stop at the bathroom you shared with Sans and Stretch to brush your teeth, staring at your own sub-par expression while you did so with a neutral face. Midnight ice cream had not been easy on the bags under your eyes.

 

The ascent up your stairs was a perilous one as sleep deprived and emotionally exhausted as you were.

 

You took a breath when you reached your door, looking down at your feet for a second.

 

… Damn. You’d forgotten that you’d left barefoot. It hadn’t seemed like such a big deal in the moment, what with being preoccupied with meeting not only your grandfather but your actual father in one day.

 

Then, something caught your interest. In front of your feet was a small piece of paper.

 

You bent down to pick it up and soon realized that it was a photo.

 

… your photo. The one of you, Cam and your grandma. Your family. Your _real_ family.

 

Your faces grinned at you from the photo, tiny, innocent Cam and yourself looking so alike. Now you couldn’t find him in yourself in the mirror if you tried. Everytime you tried, you just saw blood and dust… yellow roses.

 

He changed. He was gone to you long before he had actually died. You had to remind yourself of the periodically to avoid feeling guilty for not visiting him all those years.

 

But still, this photo was a reminder of simpler, happier times. Blue must have found it in his room and returned it to you. A smile pulled at your teeth as you held the photo to your chest, close to your SOUL.

 

You’d have to thank him later. Maybe with baked goods? Images of cakes floated through your mind. Yes, a cake sounded good right about now...

 

In a much better mood, you walked into your room.

 

He first thing you saw was that there was somebody on your bed. The curtains you’d gotten for your window were blocking what little light could be gleaned from the moon, making it so much darker in the room.

 

In a futile attempt to see, you tried to flick the light switch on, but couldn’t find it as your hands scrabbled along the wall. Your eye lights didn’t adjust to the dark  in time for you to identify the person, although you could tell that they were tall. Before you could scream for help, the person was gone and you felt an arm wrap around your middle and a hand cover your skeletal grin.

 

Their hands were bony. Another skeleton? One of the boys? Who would do this, and why were they being so creepy about it!

 

There was one thing you knew for certain, though.

 

You were trapped by a possible stranger with no idea of their motivations.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoopy. wonder who it is.
> 
> bububububububububububububububub
> 
> i wasn't sure if the whole ricky's thing was too much, but i decided to do it anyways???????? (honestly, i didn't feel like rewriting the chapter after it took that turn ~ plus it set me up for that fun part near the end)
> 
> and a lot of y'all have already guessed this, but chippy had a girlfriend :0!!
> 
> and a few of you have already guessed who it is like damn breaking my creative bones over here chill.  
> (just kidding; i love it when you give me theories)
> 
> (did y'all catch that reference??)
> 
> have a nice monday!! here's my tumblr just in case you wanna be friends or smth idk [@beanniebenn](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com)


	15. make up break up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> .... oooofff 
> 
> solve one problem just to face another.

 

 

“ah, ah - shit, chip, calm down!”

 

You stomped down _hard_ on your capturer’s foot, resulting in a hiss of pain from the assailant and knocked your skull back into their sternum - as a skeleton, it was a great point of weakness for all of you. One that you were willing to use to your advantage.

 

They stumbled back, with your still in their arms, their back hitting your door. You heard the sound of their skull making a dull cluncking sound against the wood and nearly winced yourself - oof.

 

You could feel the rib cage behind you expanding in a heavy breath. But then they made a fatal mistake. Their arms went slightly lax, and you used it as your opportunity to twist around, free yourself, and summon an attack - a bone whip, wrapped around your arm.

 

Not swinging around, but ready to be used.

 

You gathered some of your lavender magic in your hand to illuminate the room and expose your attacker.

 

Oh.

 

“Stretch?”

 

“nyehehehe, guilty?”

 

You dispelled your whip, but kept the magic in your hand until you could flick on the light switch, at which point you dismissed it as well.

 

“Why are you here? And why did you grab me?”

 

The tall skeleton groaned, alternating rubbing the back of his skull and his sternum which had probably both been whacked pretty hard. While he was doing this, you picked up the photo you left on the ground and stashed it away in your sock drawer so it was safe.

 

“i wanted t’apologize.”

 

“....” You waited for him to continue.

 

“about the other day. i was an asshole.”

 

“....”

 

“remember? when i acted like a brat and made you have a panic attack?”

 

“....”

 

“chip?? say something?? please??”

 

The tension in the room broke when you grinned at Stretch, albeit your features were tired, “I was just going to see if you’d completely own up to what you did. Congrats! You did.”

 

Stretch grinned along with you, although his own was strained with nervousness, “guess i deserved that.”

 

“There’s no ‘guess’ about it…” you grumbled.

 

“yeah… well… i’m really sorry. and. i shouldn’t have done it. and. it was really shitty of me?? and… i won’t do it again.”

 

“That’s nice and all - but how do I _know_ you won't’ do it again? What are you going to do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?” Wow. Sleepy you sure had a backbone right now.

 

“..... um…. umumum, we can talk about it?” Based on Stretch’s expression, you could tell that was the exact _last_ think that he wanted to do at the moment, but was willing to do it.

 

Just to make up with you?

 

… Kind of flattering.

 

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We can. Um. Sit down on my bed.”

 

Stretch reluctantly and slowly followed you to sit next to you one the bed, where you were patting the bed spread.

 

“So.”

 

“yup.”

 

“I…. Why did you get upset with me?”

 

“... i … i felt you’re magic, ready to attack, an’ i just thought…”

 

He took a deep breath, sounding frustrated, “ i thought that.. fuck! i dunno, i thought that you weren’t as good as everybody thought for a second, that maybe you were dangerous an’ i should have put you in your place earlier.”

 

Wow.

 

“That’s really fucked up and disrespectful.”

 

“stars, tell me somethin’ i don’t know - red told me as much. he’s a drunk asshole, but somehow even _he_ is on some higher moral ground than me.”

 

“... It’s really fucked up and disrespectful, but it’s also kind of confusing to me…. Stretch, why was that your first thought whenever you felt my attack magic?”

 

“... there was someone.” He admitted.

 

… Your thoughts went back to what Sans had told you post-nightmare that time you’d wandered downstairs and he’d found you.

 

What he told you about…

 

_“someone… close to me was getting hurt. by another person close to me. over and over again. they didn’t stop. i didn’t stop them. i just had to watch him get hurt over and over and over again…”_

 

“Did they… hurt you?”

 

“i…. i  think? maybe? back underground… there was this kid. a human. i was supposed to capture them… but… i didn’t really want to capture anybody. plus, they were just a _kid_.”

 

“and they were a good human-kid, too! they made friends with me an’ my bro, and all of my other friends… but…” Hearing the way Stretch tried to brokenly defend the kid, despite not having told you what they did, nearly broke your non-existent heart.

 

“i think they might? have hurt my brother? and me? it’s crazy, i feel crazy and i sound crazy - but i’m pretty sure they’re a murderer?”

 

At this point, Stretch was rubbing his phalanges over his face with a dull scraping noise, and, worrying for the state of his bones, you grabbed his hands in your own, putting them in your lap.

 

“It’s okay, Stretch… It’s okay… why do you think they may have hurt you?”

 

“... there were these times, when they looked at me… like they were in on some joke i didn’t know about. an’ they had these eyes… red… red eyes…. an’ i coulda swore i could feel the magic rolling off of them… violent, dangerous, old magic.”

 

So that’s how your sudden summoning of attack magic could have triggered him as well.

 

“and the dreams… i feel like i’ve had the dreams for longer than i’ve known them. have you ever seen a skeleton without their skull? can you imagine that? your brother just standin’ there, without his skull? only vertebrae.”

 

“No… No, I haven’t seen a skeleton without their skull… I’m sorry, Stretch. That sounds awful…”

 

You released Stretch’s hands so that you could wrap your arms around his side, laying your skull down on his shoulder.

 

It was only a few moments before Stretch pushed you away, shaking his skull. “no, no, chip, you’re gonna make me feel even more like an asshole - i’m supposed to be apologizing to _you_.”

 

You snorted, wrapping your arms around him again, “You already apologized, goof. This is us trying to _understand_ each other. I’m offering you _empathy_.”

 

“oh. okay.” Stretch leaned into you a little. “can i, uh, offer you empathy, too, then? i’m real sorry about whatever happened to your eye socket. and your tooth. and whatever gave you  ptsd.”

 

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

 

“no. it’s _not_ okay, because i’m a fucking jerk and i brought it up and gave you a panic attack.”

 

“... Okay, you’re a little right. But calling you a ‘fucking jerk’ and being angry at you? It isn’t going to fix whatever this funk between us is.”

 

“... then what will? because i know it’s only been a few days and i’m a huge baby, but i’m really tired of this ‘funk’.”

 

You snickered at his wording, “Yeah, me too. I guess… well, hearing what you told me just now helped a bit, but… is there anything I can do to prove that I’m not evil or going to hurt you or your brother?”

 

Stretch mumbled something that you didn’t quite catch.

 

“What was that?”

 

“i _said_ , there is _one_ thing.”

 

“Well, you big skele-baby? What is it? Lay it on me.”

 

“so you know how sans and red can see SOULs?”

 

Um.

 

“No, what?”

 

“they didn’t tell you - well, um,” Stretch sighed something about ‘red’s high horse’ being more of a pony to himself , but continued “they can see SOULs. like, a they physically can see them and do a basic check without the ‘check’ed party knowing.”

 

“??? Are you telling me that Sans and Red having been ogling my SOUL this entire time?”

 

“well, _no_ , they don’t usually try to stare at people’s SOULs, but they do a basic check with people they’re curious about.”

 

“But they checked me? Without me knowing? And didn’t tell me?”

 

“well, _yeah_ , ‘t least that’s what red told me.”

 

Your eye lights flared purple for a brief moment in a fit of righteous anger, “That asshole! You don’t perv on a girl’s SOUL then take her out for ice cream!”

 

“i’m thinking my request might not be as welcome, now…”

 

“Yeah, well I can’t get any angrier right now - tell me anyways.”

 

Stretch sighed, looking away from you for a moment to scratch at his nasal ridge.“i was just thinking that maybe i could pull you into an encounter and do a quick check?”

 

The poor skelly looked so nervous that he was sweating buckets, free phalanges twitching at his pocket before they dove in to retrieve something - oh, a cigarette.

 

“No smoking,” you said in a distracted manner, slapping the death stick out of his hand, causing it to land into his lap as you mulled over Stretch’s question.

 

Well. It’s not like Red and Sans hadn’t already gotten a good eyeful, and, technically, Stretch was asking you in the proper, polite way.

 

“sorry.” He replied, although you don’t know if it was for the smoking or for the question.

 

A few moments later and you knew what you were going to do.

 

You nodded your skull at Stretch, “Yeah, you can start an encounter.”

 

He looked at you, shocked. “r-really?”

 

“Yeah. Just because Sans and Red fucked up doesn’t change the fact that you asked me in a respectful manner. At least _you’re_ going about this the right way.”

 

“w-wow, okay, um, how many times can i check you for the SOUL script? ah, assuming i’m allowed to read it at all?”

 

“You can read it, but only check me once, please. And I want to check you, too.”

 

Stretch nodded, prepping his magic for an encounter as the two of you stood up from the bed to face each other. You felt it swirl around the room, creating a stir in your chest as the world went dark.

 

In front of you in the dark world, Stretch appeared. He was bouncing from side to side in a nervous manner.

 

A few moments later, you could feel yourself being checked. Your stats and script were unknown to you, but Stretch seemed happy enough with your script, offering you a genuine smile from across the way.

 

“‘kay, i’m ready.” He said.

 

The turn passed to you, and you used it to do a quick check of the tall skeleton’s SOUL.

 

**papyrus**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**1 ATK 1 DEF 1/1 HP**

*** He’s terrified of what you might find in here.**

 

Your turn ended and Stretch spared you immediately, leaving you no time to mull over the script you’d read. You stumbled a bit as suddenly your SOUL was flung back into your body, the world regaining its color.

 

“sorry for ending things so suddenly, um, guess i was being silly, huh?”

 

“It’s okay…” You wheezed, holding the area over where your SOUL resides.

 

Stretch groaned, covering his eye sockets with his sleeve as he flopped back down on your bed.

 

“i’m tired.”

 

“yeah, lazybones, I can tell. Why don’t you go back to your room and get some rest?”

 

“that would probably be best. i’m just gonna ‘port out, okay?”

 

“Sure. Thanks for the heads up, Stretch.”

 

“no problem. uh, see you in the morning?”

 

“See you then.” You called sweetly, watching as he blipped out of existence.

 

Well. This night has been emotionally exhausting for more than one reason.

 

You crawled into your slightly bedding, rubbing your face against the pillow as you drifted off to sleep.

 

////////

 

The morning came gently, waking you up with the caress of sunlight and the feeling of soft blankets on your bones.

 

You luxuriously stretched your bones out, humming in content. Ah, if there was one thing about this universe you were thankful for, it was this bed. Sure, it was a guest bed, but whoever chose this bed was surely a bed connoisseur.

 

You opened your eye sockets a little to take in your surroundings - your own attic safe space. Comfortable and yours.

 

… Except when you wake up, you find yourself face to snout with a small, white, fluffy dog.

 

It stares back at you.

 

It takes a few seconds for your mind to catch up with you when you realize that _this_ , this is the dog!

 

You sit up, holding out your arms to catch the little bugger, but it dodges your grab with incredible dexterity, hopping onto your bedpost, balancing perfectly.

 

You stare at it for a few moments later before slipping your legs off the edge of the bed, slowly, planting your feet on the ground.

 

The entire time you face the dog off, eye to eye socket, getting up at an agonizingly slow pace.

 

The dog continues to stare back at you.

 

You creep closer, putting your arms in an outward position  to capture the small doggo once again. It’s eyes are startlingly clear as it takes in your actions.

 

Does it know what you’re trying to do?

 

There’s no way. It’s just a dog. It’s tongue lolls out almost as if to prove your previous statement.

 

You lunge forward, but end up nearly impaling yourself on the bedpost as you miscalculate the force behind your action, and roll out of the way at the last second to avoid becoming a skeleton shish-kebab.

 

The dog, which had fancifully jumped out of the way at your movement landed delicately on your back, sitting down.

 

… This dog!!

 

As it settles on your back, though, you feel an ingenious idea come into your mind.

 

Perfect.

 

You waited a few moments.

 

Now, when it thinks it’s safe and that you’ve been defeated.

 

Faster than light, you twist onto your back, uncaring of the dog on your back, knowing that it will jump out of the way - but you use that to your advantage.

 

You correctly guessed that it would jump towards the door exiting your room, so you grabbed in that direction and were rewarded with the small fluffy dog in your arms.

 

It wiggled and struggled, but you calmed it with a few pats.

 

You stood, still holding the little dog.

 

Your door was still closed.

 

“How did you get in here, little guy?” It gives a little doggy whine and struggles some more, but you pay it no mind as you exit your room and quickly make your way down the two flights of stairs towards the kitchen.

 

Maybe one of the other skeletons will have an explanation for this little invader.

 

To your pleasant surprise, the only skeletons in the kitchen this morning are Papyrus and Stretch.

 

From a preliminary glance, you can tell that Stretch has fully recovered from his emotional and sorry state from last night. A good’s night rest really did him well.

 

“Good morning!” You greeted, setting the dog under one of your arms to wave at them. Luckily it’s taken the hint that you’re not letting go anytime soon and ragdolls.

 

“‘mornin’, chip.” Stretch replies, taking a sip of some beverage out of a mug. Coffee? No. Stretch doesn’t seem like a coffee skeleton. Tea, perhaps?

 

“GOOD MORNING, CHIP! I SEE YOU’VE FOUND AD…. HE’S BEEN MISSING RECENTLY AND I DIDN’T SEE HIM CAUGHT IN ANY OF MY PUZZLES…”

 

Papyrus takes ‘AD’ from you, holding the little ball of fluff under his little front legs and looking into his little doggy eyes.

 

“SLIPPERY SNAIL.” The little dog yips and licks Papyrus’ face.

 

The skeleton sighs, lowering the dog from his face and placing him on the ground.

 

“Is he you guys’ dog or something?”

 

“OR SOMETHING.” Papyrus replies, going back to his earlier task - looking through the fridge, presumably for breakfast items.

 

“HE COMES AROUND SOMETIMES TO WREAK HAVOC. HE HAS A KNACK FOR STEALING MY ATTACKS AND ACTIVATING PUZZLES. UNFORTUNATELY MY BROTHER HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR THE LITTLE BUGGER AND CONTINUES TO LET HIM IN. HOW HE GETS AROUND THE HOUSE OTHERWISE IS A MYSTERY TO ME.”

 

“AHA!” Papyrus exclaimes, pulling out a carton of eggs. “OMELETS FOR BREAKFAST!”

 

The little dog scampered off towards Stretch after being put down, pawing at his legs until the tall skeletons relents and bends down to give him his due pets.

 

“blue’s also a bit of an enabler for the little guy.” Stretch admits, setting the mug down so the pup can jump into his arms.

 

You wander over to Stretch while Papyrus prepares the eggs, giving the fluffy boy a few pats. He wriggles in Stretch’s arms and reaches his snout out to lick your face a few times.

 

You giggle, scratching behind his ears.

 

“careful.” Stretch warns you jokingly, “he’s like a crocodile. let him get a taste of your bones and he’ll never leave you alone.”

 

“IT’S TRUE!” Papyrus laments, “IT STARTED WITH MY ATTACKS AND NOW IF I’M NOT CAREFUL HE’LL RUN OFF WITH ONE OF MY PHALANGES - OR WORSE, MY ENTIRE ARM! IT'S A GOOD THING I WEAR GLOVES”

 

“No way... “ But you believe him, nonetheless. You’ve seen weirder things in this house.

 

Stretch lets the little dog down, allowing him to whimper and beg to be picked up while Papyrus finishes breakfast.

 

The loud skeleton places down plates in front of you, taking his own place next to you as the three of you dig in.

 

“Fanks!” You tell Papyrus, “‘S really gud!”

 

“DON’T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL, SILLY SKELETON.” Papyrus says in an amused manner.

 

You see Stretch drop a few bites onto the floor for AD to eat when he thinks Papyrus isn’t looking, but based on Papyrus’ small smirk, you assume he knows.

 

He doesn’t call Stretch out on it, though.

 

You sigh, contented. What a happy morning…

 

Until in strolls Sans.

 

Memories from what Stretch told you the other night fill your mind.

 

A justice fueled rage begins to simmer in your bones.

 

When Sans catches sight of you, he grins and waves, and that’s what finally does you in.

 

You stand up from your seat at the breakfast table, your chair making a scraping noise as it’s pushed back. Your palms are flat on the table as you give Sans a stern look.

 

“Comic Sans Skeleton!”

 

The skeleton in question turns to you, shocked at the use of his full name.

 

You’ve got him now.

 

“Explain yourself!”

 

//////////

 

“Explain yourself!

 

Sans freezes as he hears you utter his full name.

 

_*stars_

_*why did papyrus teach her that…_

 

His grin is locked in place and he feels sweat beading at this skull when you fix him with a glare.

 

_*what did i do??_

 

A brief list of your recent interaction flashes through his skull.

 

Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

He holds up his hands in a defensive manner, looking you straight in the eye lights. Beside you, Stretch is holding loosely onto one of your arms. Like he’s holding you back.

 

Sans’ eye sockets narrow at the overly-familiar act. He wants to call Stretch out on the move - especially after what he found out during your chat at Grillby’s - but a small movement from the corner of his eye socket catches his attention.

 

Oh. Oh no. His soft spot for the Annoying Dog is coming back to, heh, _bite_ him.

 

He knows what you must be referencing.

 

\----

_Sans woke up groggily, confused. He was dressed in his clothes from yesterday (normal) and half of his body was hanging off the bed, only his arms,  ribcage and one leg still on the piece of furniture (also normal)._

 

 _What is most definitely_ not _normal is the fact that inches away from his face is the resting skull of his newest housemate._

 

_Your compulsory breathing fans warm air onto his face every couple of seconds, spreading the deep blue blush that seems to be spreading across his skull._

 

*thank the stars she’s still asleep

 

_Sans quickly made to get himself off the bed, when he realized that one of his arms was wedged under the pillow that your head was resting on._

 

_You’d surely wake up if he moved._

 

_Okay, okay, no need to panic - all Sans needs to do is extract himself slowly while making sure you didn’t stir._

 

_A white blob caught Sans’ attention, drawing his gaze to the headboard of the bed._

 

_No. Fuck. No._

 

_Sure enough, per usual, AD had chosen the least convenient time to show up._

 

_Usually, though, it was in a situation where Sans could appriciate the ironic timing. Not now, though, nope._

 

_The little shit was wagging his little tail, looking as if he was about to jump down onto the bed and wake you up, exposing Sans._

 

_“ad!” Sans hissed, giving the dog a very stern look. Inside, Sans was panicking, hoping to whatever greater being out there that AD didn’t jump._

 

_The dog didn’t look conviced by Sans’ tone, though, raring his little but up to pounce._

 

_“ad!” Sans tried again, but with a pleading tone. He was beyond bravado._

 

_You shifted at the sudden noises, snuggling deeper into your pillow, arm sliding underneath it and brushing against Sans’ arm. You made a humming gurgling sort of noise Sans assumed was you talking in your sleep._

 

_“i’ll give you anything you want. dog treats? done. belly rubs? infinite. i’ll never make another dog pun again!”_

 

_Sans didn’t know if it was his bargining or if the dog was doing being a sadistic hair ball, but AD finally jumped down - onto the floor._

 

_Then proceeded to bite Sans’ ankle, dragging him off the bed._

 

_Somehow, you didn’t wake up as AD essentially dragged Sans out of the room._

 

_The last thing Sans saw before he shut the door with his magic was that he’d accidentally pulled the comforter off the bed and that AD had left paw prints leading into the room, presumabely from when h’d first arrived to torment Sans._

 

_He’d thought he was screwed, but you didn’t mention it._

\---- 

 

You must have found out somehow.

 

“i-i’m sorry! i didn’t mean t’fall asleep, but i did, an’ then i was wakin’ up, an’ you were still there sleepin’, so i tried to get out real quiet without wakin’ you -”

 

“Wait.” You stopped Sans by putting up a hand, “What are you talking about?”

 

“um. i fell asleep in your bed with you after we went to grillby’s?”

 

“You WHAT?” Your reaction told Sans that he was very off point about what you were angry about. That _and_ he just outed himself.

 

“DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH WHY I SAW YOU COMING DOWN FROM THE GAME ROOM THE OTHER DAY? IS THAT WHY YOU WERE UP SO EARLY? I THOUGHT YOU FELL ASLEEP GAMING AGAIN, BROTHER….”

 

Oh. Stars. Why does Papyrus have to be here as well?

 

Both you _and_ his brother were giving him disapproving looks, now.

 

Stretch just looked smug. Damnit! How did he get on your good side so fast?

 

“I thought the sock thing was a one time deal, but seriously? Are you just a pervert, Sans??”

 

_*kill me now. please._

 

“n-no, i swear, it was an accident…”

 

“Was it an accident when you decided to get an eyeful of my SOUL, too, then?!”

 

_*so that’s what she was talking about_

_*somehow ten times worse than anything else i could have dreamed up_

 

“... well… that, was, you have to understand -”

 

“Understand what? That I was never supposed to find out? That you have no sense of boundaries?”

 

“I HAVE TO AGREE WITH OUR DEAR CHIP, HERE, BROTHER - JUST BECAUSE YOU _CAN_ DO SOMETHING DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU SHOULD. WHAT YOU DID WAS VERY INAPPROPRIATE AND IT’S CHIP’S RIGHT TO FEEL VIOLATED!”

 

“Yeah! What he said! You _violated_ me!”

 

At this point, Sans’ mind was blue-screening as he stood there, still under verbal assault.

 

Red then made the mistake of walking in.

 

Sans was given a break as you turned your gaze to Red.

 

“ _You._ ” Your tone was poisonous. Pointing to Red, you narrowed your eye sockets further.

 

“me???” Red replied, looking confused and nervous.

 

“How could you? You big… you big _meanie!_ ”

 

“woah, dolly, dolly, let’s not go throwin’ the ‘m’ word around, let’s… let’s talk - what’s gotcha so angry, huh?”

 

“Don’t ‘Dolly’ me!” You left the table, stalking towards the tall, edgy skeleton. Once you were close enough, you stabbed your finger into his sternum.

 

“Use the name that was on my SOUL whenever you checked me without my permission!”

 

Red’s eye lights went out at the implication that you knew what he’d done.

 

“do-” Red uttered your real name after almost messing up, taking the hand that was shoving his sternum and holding it.

 

“c’mon, you know me? right? would i eva do somthin’ that i think would hurtcha?”

 

You pulled your hand back, giving Red a hurt look, “I’ve known you for all of a whopping _three_ weeks, and you’ve been lying to me for the entire time! I thought you were cool - I thought we were friends…”

 

You turned back to Sans, angry tears actually starting to gather in your eye sockets. “And you! I told you about my family. I’ve only ever told that story to _two_ other people! I _trusted_ you!”

 

“y-you can trust me… i just, i had to make sure,” Sans tried once he was able to propery speak again.

 

“No, Sans, I can’t. How do I know you weren’t just looking at my SOUL to know when I was most likely to tell you, ‘so you could make sure’? How do I know that my SOUL didn’t tell you that all you had to do was act like you gave a fuck? That I would spill my damn guts - pun intended, asshole.”

 

Just then the sound of the door handle of the front door jiggled, alerting the group that Blue and Slim had arrived back home from their morning jog.

 

The kitchen stayed silent until the two arrived, looking confused.

 

Slim was the first to notice his brother’s guilty apprearence - having seen it many times before. Sans watched as his eye sockets narrowed, taking in the sight of the two berated skeletons.

 

“What Did They Do _This_ Time?”

 

You gave the skeletons one last glare before turning to Blue and Slim with tired eyes and a tired SOUL.

 

Not  that Sans was looking at it right now. Not after the point you’d just made.

 

“Ask your _brother_ ,” you spat.

 

“I’m going on a walk,” you then declared, looking back at the skeletons in the kitchen before you left for good.

 

“I’ll be back soon - Papyrus, Stretch, Slim and Blue.”

 

Sans winced at your purposeful disclusion of him and Red’s names.

 

////////

 

Those skeletons! You couldn’t believe them! How coudl they just _do_ that to someone?

 

Your SOUL ached as you remebered you much trust you’d put in the two of them - Red, your goofy buddy who always seemed like he could never do anything to hurt you despite his fearsome appearance, and Sans, who you’d trusted with information that you’d given to only two people in the past.

 

But that was the part that scared you.

 

What if you only trusted them because they were able to see into you and know which buttons to press for you to drop your walls?

 

Not to mention the _blantant disrespect_ \- A SOUL was the most private part of a person, especially outside of an encounter.

 

So private that you couldn’t see it beating in your chest without you pulling it out - even for skeletons.

 

Wherever it was when it wasn’t out, you didn’t know, but it was an integral part of your privacy.

 

The part of your privacy that Sans and Red had _destroyed_.

 

You didn’t know how long you walked - only that at some point the woods had gotten dense.

 

Like, really dense. Like, so dense that you could probably reach out and touch about four trees right now in all different directions.

 

It made it hard to see, but at least the ground was mostly clear of bushes due to the lack of sunlight from the density of the trees so you wouldn’t trip over anything.

 

Unfortunatly, this lack of sunlight also gave your surroundings a rather creepy feeling.

 

You looked back, hoping that you could see some sort of obvious trail back to the house, but it was for naught.

 

You were lost.

 

You began to chew on your bone-lip whenever a crack caught your attention. Yo flinched, skull whipping towards the sound.

 

A couple yards ahead to your east was Sans.

 

You recognized him by his hoodie, the blue parka. The hood was up, which was unusal for the skeleton, but he was proably reeling from the scolding you gave, so you chalked it up to embarrassment.

 

He was kneeling, facing away from you. He looked like he was messing with something in front of him - tying his shoes?

 

Damn, you were angry as hell with him, but you were also so scared of your surroundings right now, so you swallowed your anger and pride and crept closer.

 

A branch broke under you foot when you were around four and a half feet away.

 

Both you and Sans froze.

 

“Sans…?” you called out, wanting, _needing_ to see his face so that you could feel safe right now.

 

He stood.

 

Was he taller than the last time you’d seen him?

 

He must be. Right now, he looked almost taller than Red…

 

“H-Hey, I’m sorry about going off on you ealier… well, no I’m not, you deserved it - but, um, I’m kind of lost right now, so I’d really like it if you could take me back home?”

 

Sans turned, showing off his dirty clothes. But not dirty like the regular lazy Sans dirty.

 

Like dirt and dried blood dirty.

 

You knew the look.

 

Your eyes panned upwards from his dirty clothes, and, yep, he was _definitely_ bigger.

 

His empty socket and large, saturated, unblinking red eye light in the other along with his sharp grin clued you in to the fact that this was, also, _definitely not Sans_.

 

A breeze blew, pulling the Sans look-alike’s hood down so that you could see the _gaping-hole-oh-my-god-what-the-fuck_ in his head.

 

In his hand was a large tool. An axe.

 

Your mind wasn’t on that, though, as you took a sharp breath in at the sight of his wound.

 

You stepped closer, reaching up. There was no way with your height difference that you would actually be able to touch the edge of the crack, but it still made the giant flinch back for some reason, stumbling back a step and dropping his axe.

 

It was then that you realized the was not, in fact, tying his shoes earlier.

 

He was setting a trap. And you had just made him activate it.

 

Turns out, at the distance you were away from the giant, you, too, were caught in the crossfire of the trap - a giant weighted net that fell down on the both of you, causing your knees to buckle.

 

The giant fell next to you, giant arms on either side of your body as he shielded you from the heavy rope that surely would have done some damage to your bones - much smaller and thinner than his.

 

But now you were laying on your back, staring up into the single blood-red eye of your giant savior.

 

“H-Hi?” You squeaked.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeyyyyy guyyss!! we met a new skeleton (technically)!! i know a lot of you guys wanted to see the appearance of the sf bros in this chap, but it might be a month or two till they show... hope you've got an /appetite/ for the horror bros tho!!
> 
> i love you ALL, so don't hesitate to leave a comment or visit my [tumblr](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com)


	16. perspectives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “fu-hu- huck ” The skeleton above you wheezed, looking to the area a little above your skull, off to an area you couldn’t see. His arms visibly strained from the effort of keeping his weight off you, especially since he was exerting so much energy at the moment.
> 
> You made an embarrassing squeaking noise, hands fluttering between your bodies, unknowing of what to do, until they hesitantly came up to his shoulders.
> 
>  
> 
> ....
> 
> wherein we grasp how much red and sans fuqued up

 

 

Slim was, for lack of better terms, _pissed_ , and as the oldest skeleton in the room who wasn’t currently under interrogation, Blue felt he should _probably_ step in to save the other Sanses from the incoming verbal abuse the tall and edgy skeleton would most likely dol out.

 

… He was a tad distracted though, though…

 

You’d looked so _angry_ when you left. _Betrayed_.

 

“WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?” Slim nearly roared, rounding in on his brother, hands on hip bones and looking to be the embodiment of righteousness.

 

“... fuck.” Was the skeleton’s only reply as he dragged a skeletal hand down his face.

 

“more like what _didn’t_ he do.” Stretch snorted, leaning back in his seat and rubbing the ears of AD.

 

Guess the little dog was back in town.

 

Slim opened his mouth, most likely to tell Stretch to shut up and add in a quick insult, but Sans beat both his comment and Blue’s reprimand by speaking out first.

 

“like you have much room to talk.”

 

Stretch sputtered, indignant look on his skull. “our deal was a _misunderstanding_ . i didn’t knowingly perve on her. _multiple times_ , may i add.”

 

Having regained his confidence after Sans’ flushed deeply, Blue’s brother once again leaned back smugly in his chair, adding, “she mentioned socks, too. got anything you wanna say, sansy?”

 

“now _did_ she…” Red, apparently recovered from his own scolding, turned to give Sans a scowl. “tell me, _sansy_ , what happened with th’ _socks_?”

 

“nothing like what _you’re_ thinking, asshole. you’re in the same boat as me, here.”

 

“yeah, but at least _i_ ain’t makin’ _waves._ ”

 

“SHUT. UP. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING HELL HAPPENED!”

 

“YES,” Papyrus finally spoke up after watching the exchange with a disapproving expression, “I DO BELIEVE OUR BROTHERS SHOULD EXPLAIN _EXACTLY_ WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MAKE OUR DEAR FRIEND SO UPSET.”

 

“...” Blue decided to chip in upon seeing his own brother look so smug - especially after the brief mention of a ‘misunderstanding’.

 

“BROTHER, I, TOO, WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT A RECENT SPAT YOU MAY HAVE HAD WITH CHIP…”

 

Slim sighed, tapping his foot irritably as he stared down the three. “WHY ARE WE _ALWAYS_ THE LAST ONES TO KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS??”

 

////////

 

“fu-hu- _huck_ ” The skeleton above you wheezed, looking to the area a little above your skull, off to an area you couldn’t see. His arms visibly strained from the effort of keeping his weight off you, especially since he was exerting so much energy at the moment.

 

You made an embarrassing squeaking noise, hands fluttering between your bodies, unknowing of what to do, until they hesitantly came up to his shoulders.

 

He shuddered from the contact, and for a brief moment you were worried you hurt him - removing your hands like they were made of fire and resting them on your rib cage.

 

Your nervous panic only increased when the skeleton let out a pained hiss, and you noticed how the heavy looking rope from the netting of the trap was rubbing against his bones - although there was clothing to separate his bare bones from the rough rope, it still looked painful.

 

“I - I’m so sorry I distracted you!”

 

“‘s… ‘s okay, didn’... didn’ mean t-to-hoo.” He sounded like he was trying to reassure you, but it came out strained and rough not only from his naturally low voice, but also due to the situation he was in - trying to protect a tiny skeleton, ie you, from getting crushed by not only him, but also the trap he’d set.

 

… Why was the rope of the net so heavy??

 

Taking a few breathes, you steadied your energy and tried to approach the situation from a more practical angle.

 

“Can you get the net off?” You asked softly, trying not to be too loud lest it somehow aggravate his condition.

 

The skeleton shook his damaged skull, keeping his shoulders above his skull by dipping it down (bringing your faces _very_ close together) so that he wouldn’t catch his crack in the rope.

 

“w-weighted it…”

 

You brought your arm up, taking a part of the rope in your hand and trying to lift it, but he was right - it was almost _ridiculously_ heavy. What kind of trap needs such a heavy rope?

 

“Is it okay if I cut the rope?”

 

“‘d rather… rather you not…” His wheezy breathe was concerning you, but at the forefront of your mind was a list of possible escapes - it made sense to you that he didn’t want to damage the trap - after all, the rope was heavy and of good quality.

 

One mistake isn’t any reason to ruin it - even if it _could_ technically be repaired.

 

“Okay, then can I - “  
  
The skeleton took a deep breath, and you could feel the way the air shifted in front of your face as he let his arms buckle, grabbing you by the shoulders while screwing his working eye socket shut, rolling to the side, taking you with him..

 

Naturally, you screamed like a banshee.

 

/////////

 

_Sans woke up in a sweaty panic, limbs frozen as he laid on his bed, bones rattling with pain that no longer existed._

 

 _No matter how hard he tried, though he knew he was awake, neither his arms nor legs would obey his commands to_ move _. He kept his eye sockets screwed shut, not wanting to see the red eyes that were all too common a part of this delusion._

 

_Sleep paralysis._

 

 _The intense pain on his rib cage from his dream had long since faded upon his awakening, but he could still_ feel _the heat on his bones, a sharp and precise line cutting through his sternum down to the bottom of his ribs._

 

 _In his panic, he could almost still feel the dribbling of_ Determination _down his bones, too much for his body of dust and magic._

 

_… He couldn't feel his legs._

 

h e  w a s  f a d i n g  . . .

 

_In a renewed effort fueled by pure panic and some twisted will to live, Sans thrashed around until his foot twitched, and from there it was like a damn breaking, and suddenly he was fully thrashing around in his bed._

 

 _It took a few moments for that to sink in, and for the inbetween time where Sans frenzied about, trying to escape the inevitable death that he’d lived_ over and over and over and  o v e r _again, he didn’t notice that his magic had begun to pick everything up, whipping it around the room at dangerous speeds._

 

_He knocked his skull against his headboard, though - leaving a ringing in his ear-holes and a dull pain on the top of his skull. Instantly the items that had been picked up by his magic were dropped, laying on their new spot in his room. It didn’t look any better or worse off than before._

 

_He groaned, hands coming up to rub at the sore spot. It was a few minutes, perhaps an hour - Sans wasn’t really good with time like that… especially… especially after a nightmare - that he spent panting, bones rattling._

 

_When Sans felt calmed down enough, he reached for his blanket to pull it over his bones - a deep, invading chill that was the result of his sweating instilled in his bones. The blanket wouldn’t make it go away, but it might make him feel a tad bit safer._

 

_Except the blanket was on the floor._

 

_Sans sighed._

 

_Well, he was too lazy to try and get it, but there was also the fact that he was hungry…_

 

 _… Nightmares_ were _exhausting._

 

_Too lazy to get a blanket off the ground, but not too much so to travel all the way downstairs for a midnight snack?_

 

_You could say Sans lived paradoxes like that, heh._

 

 _Sans’ walk down stairs was what one might describe as paranoid - he glanced at every window for the hint of a red glint reflecting, but looked away just as quickly for fear that he actually_ might _catch a glimpse of the demon that invaded his dreams._

 

 _All of his senses were dialled up to eleven, the usually undetectable changes in temperature now glaringly apparent along with the sound of the AC turning on - great, now he was shivering for a completely_ different _reason._

 

_In his state of hyper-awareness, however, he was able to hear a gentle humming sound along with some shuffling from the kitchen ten paces before he reached the room._

 

_Instantly, he was on high alert, listening for any jostling in their knife drawer or the sound of sharp metal on metal…_

 

_None._

 

_Whoever was in the kitchen had stopped moving for the most part, although they were still humming._

 

_Sans crept in, making sure to keep quiet._

 

 _When he caught sight of_ you, _however, all of the the tension in his bones unconsciously released, like a tightly coiled spring gently unwinding instead of jumping up to release it’s pent-up energy._

 

_Your eye lights were fuzzy and distant, from what he could tell, likely not aware of the light humming you were emitting._

 

_He stood to listen for a while - he didn’t recognize the tune. He felt as though he should have expected that, though, what with the coming-from-a-different-universe and all._

 

_“kid?” Your spine went ramrod straight as you stiffened._

 

_You turned quickly to asses who it was, before you quickly relaxed at the sight of Sans. Something about your quick dismissal of his threat-status warmed his bones. You turned back around quickly, though, to get back to whatever it was that you were making._

 

_“O-Oh, hi, Sans. What’re you doing at this hour, it’s, uh - “ you checked the oven clock, “two a.m.”_

 

_He shrugged, “nightmares. work. whichever. the question is what’re you doin’ out here? havin’ sum troubles sleepin’? excited ‘bout tomorrow?”_

 

 _Oh. How he would have loved to be kept up tonight by_ work _. At least the stupid machine didn’t_ literally _laugh in his face as it destroyed everything he ever loved. It was stupidly stoic in its casual demolishing of everything he thought he knew._

 

 _Why_ he _was down here wasn’t a mystery, though, he was more curious to what was keeping_ you _up at this hour of the night - er, morning._

 

_“I..” He could tell that you were contemplating telling him the truth._

 

_He reached his magic out, gently brushing along yours calmingly. You didn’t seem to notice, further cementing his thought that there was something bothering you._

 

_… It was a little less consensual, then, as he soothed your magic with his, than he would have liked, but it wasn’t anything terrible. And your magic wasn’t recoiling, either…_

 

 _… At least it was nothing so as invasive as checking your_ SOUL _or anything…._

 

_… Especially in the state you were in now…._

 

_“I had a bad dream.” You said quietly. “I came downstairs to make myself a warm drink.”_

 

_“guess that makes us two peas in a pod, kiddo. got enough for two?” Sans slung himself up so that he was seated on the counter beside you. He was slightly exhausted from that movement alone, but kept his sockets open to observe you._

 

 _He wasn’t_ exactly _sure of what you were brewing up, but it sure_ smelled _pleasant enough._

 

_And you. Looking as tiny and soft as the day that you fell outta that machine. Six days ago, but still._

 

_So many mysteries to unlock. So many little intricacies in personality and demeanor that separated you from any other inhabitant in this house._

 

_So different from the others._

 

_Refreshing but also ... distinctly terrifying. He hadn't had to deal with the unfamiliar in a long, long..._

 

 _You could say that he was_ , heh, Determined _, to figure it out - to figure_ you _out._

 

_You nodded yes while he was still caught up in his thoughts._

 

_He could see that you were very faintly still shaking, hear the small clatter of your bones against one another…_

 

 _*_ nightmare?

 

_Sans knew he shouldn't._

 

_He really, really shouldn't. It was wrong._

 

_You were... you weren't in your best state of mind._

 

 _It wasn't even right in the_ first _place. It was especially wrong when you were like this._

 

_... That didn't mean that he wasn't going to do it and feel bad about it, though._

 

_You'd never know and he could feel like a piece of garbage in his own time._

 

_He checked you._

 

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**32/40 HP**

***A little shaken up.**

 

**… Ask her what’s wrong?**

 

_“Did you want to talk about it? Gaster always said that helped.” You offered, nearly startling Sans as your stats faded from view._

 

 _Your casual mention of Gaster caught Sans off guard - he wasn’t used to hearing the name come out of other people’s mouths. Sure, in this house, there were a lot more people who remembered the old man. Or, at least, their_ version _of the old man._

 

 _It wasn’t common for the others to just_ mention _him though. Maybe, perhaps, except for the swap brothers - seeing as he hadn’t disappeared in their universe._

 

 _He was too different to be considered a_ real _Gaster, however._

 

 _Sans shrugged, realizing he had to reply to you… Maybe he could use this as an opportunity to get to know more about you? Your_ SOUL had _said to ‘ask you about it’._

 

_“did you wanna talk ‘bout yours?”_

 

 _*_ bingo bango

 

_Just like that you opened up. Sans could almost feel proud of himself._

 

_“I… was dying. I almost died. I could feel my stats dropping. I was turning into dust. I woke up and thought… I thought that I was still dying. I could feel the marrow turning chalky and dusty...”_

 

 _Sans could see that you were working yourself up into a small panic with the way you were speaking words getting faster as you looked down at your hands, almost like you could_ see _the dust…_

 

 _… Your_ SOUL _had been helpful earlier in instructing him what to do…_

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**32/40 HP**

***Just a tiny skeleton in need of a hug.**

 

 _Well, not so helpful as Sans could have guessed, but it_ did _tell him that you weren’t adverse to touch right now, which Sans used as de-facto consent to begin lightly rubbing the area between your shoulder blades. It used to work on him as a kid, so why not?_

 

_“‘s okay, you’re okay…”_

 

_A few moments passed. Your breathing normalized again. Sans resumed his circles until you pulled away to get mugs for the drinks._

 

_He watched as you smiled lightly at him, like you were thanking him. That small feeling of pride returned._

 

_t h a n k i n g  h i m  f o r w h a t ?  h e h a d j u s t c h e c k e d  y o u w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n ._

 

 _Sans chose his next words carefully. He could tell that_ you _could tell, but it didn’t seem to bother you._

 

_Perhaps you had been doing the same?_

 

_“someone… close to me was getting hurt. by another person close to me. over and over again. they didn’t stop. i didn’t stop them. i just had to watch him get hurt over and over and over again…”_

 

 _Not quite a lie. True, the part that had woken Sans up in a blind panic was the part where he could feel the_  D e t e r m i n a t i o n _melting his body as he finished the fight with the kid, a bright red stripe across his chest._

 

 _He didn’t mind that part so much. There were only so many times you could be killed before it lost its heh,_ punch.

 

 _But seeing his brother killed over and over again, just as helpless every time? That one_  n e v e r   _got old._

 

_“Did this…” You hesitated, “did this really happen?”_

 

_For the first time since Sans had spotted you he felt… uncomfortable._

 

 _Should he tell you? It’s not like he hasn’t been looking into your_ SOUL _this entire time…_

 

_“did your nightmare really happen?”_

 

_He locked eye lights with you in the dark._

 

_“Yes.” you punctuated your response by gently handing him the warm mug. His phalanges clacked against the cremic as he gripped the mug tightly._

 

_“mine too.”_

 

_You took a sip from your drink._

 

_“Are you afraid that it’ll happen again?”_

 

_“yes.”_

 

_“Me too.”_

 

 _One more time. He_  n e e d s   _to know what’s on your mind. He feels too exposed without knowing._

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**32/40 HP**

***You need to stop.**

 

_*what…_

_*like… with talking about it?_

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**32/40 HP**

***Don’t look.**

 

*that’s... that’s impossible.

*SOULS can’t hide themselves

 

 _Sans looked up at your face for any signs that you knew what was happening. You weren’t even_ looking _at him… you didn’t know. You couldn’t._

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**32/40 HP**

***** **S T O P  I T  N O W .**

 

_Sans nearly jolted back, bones clacking together at the almost thunderous voice in his head… what… what was that?_

 

_Still, though, you seemed to be completely unknowing of what was happening, calmly sipping your drink._

 

_You looked towards Sans, and in a moment he was falsely sleeping - pillowing his skull with his arms._

 

 _While he looked the epitome of calm, though, his_ SOUL _was racing._

 

_What was that? you didn't seem to notice..._

 

_... He'd... he'd never seen that happen before..._

 

_Was that you?_

 

 _Impossible. There's no way... you didn't give any indication that you were hostile, nor did your_ SOUL _darken or react during the speech._

 

 _Whatever voice was coming off of your_ SOUL _, it wasn't your own..._

 

_You softly petted his skull, phalanges making a dull noise against the bone before you left to go back to your room._

 

_“Good night, Sans.”_

 

 _A feeling of calmness washed over him as you left - you'd given him a bit of green magic through the bone-on-bone contact before you left, hoping perhaps to soothe him in his slumber. Green magic couldn't be administered with ill intent, further proving his theory that it hadn't been_ you _that interfered with the_ SOUL  _reading._

 

_... Still, though, was this going to change how he viewed you?_

 

 _Honestly, probably not. Sans had already developed a huge soft spot for you since you'd fallen out of that machine - what with how tiny you were, the chips in your skull and your over all demeanor. You got a long with his brother and the other inhabitants of the house_ _splendidly._

 

_Well, perhaps he'd watch you for other signs._

 

_Sans knew one thing, though. He wasn’t going to be checking you anytime soon._

  


////////

 

Sans left out some of his own thoughts and what he'd found while checking you - only admitting to the others that he  _had_ done so.

 

... The other information... That was for him to know.

 

He'd watched you cautiously for a while since that incident - keeping tabs on your whereabouts, following you on your little trips to the embassy... 

 

But there was nothing out of place - in fact, the more he watched you, the further into this pseudo-infatuation he fell.

 

You were just so  _tiny_ and bumbled around so  _happily_.

 

And he found that he didn't  _need_ to check your stats to tell what you were feeling or how he should react - you were remarkably open about your feelings.

 

And by the time that you'd had that panic attack in the basement?

 

Sans was so far in that he'd forgotten all about the voice.

 

For all he knew, it was an illusion made up by a paranoid mind, far too tired to make reason of reality.

 

As much as Sans hated to admit it, he was one universe removed from bat-shit crazy...

 

"THAT'S AWFUL, SANS!" Papyrus scolded, looking so  _sad_ for a moment that the guilt compounded upon Sans until it felt like he was being crushed by his sins.

 

"i mean, i  _knew_ it was wrong..." He defended, voice imploring.

 

"I KNOW!" Papyrus responded, "BUT THAT MAKES IT WORSE! HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO APOLOGIZE IF YOU  _KNEW_ THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS, KNEW WHAT THEY IMPLIED AND DID IT ANYWAY? SHE'LL FEEL LIKE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT HER AT ALL!"

 

"i... i do, though..."

 

"yeah, yeah, yer a terrible, shitty person, but what's up with the socks?"

 

Every skeleton in the room quirked a brow bone at Sans at Red's reminder.

 

////////////////////

 

You were still screaming for a few moments after the world blanked out and came back into view. You shut your mouth quickly whenever you realized the tall skeleton wasn’t on top of you anymore and you _weren’t_ being crushed.

 

The giant who’d saved you had at some point rolled off of you, and was laying on his side away from you a little less than a foot to your left.

 

You gasped, feeling like you hadn’t had a breath in forever - even though you were a skeleton. It registered in your mind somewhere that he’d teleported - and that the lack of itchiness suggested him grabbing you by the shoulder had likely made the ride a little easier.

 

He was panting much like you, large body falling and rising shorts bursts, telling of his exhaustion.

 

… But your eye lights were drawn to the massive hole in his skull. From this vantage point, laying so close to him, you could see the entirety of the injury and it was _horrifying_.

 

Y-You could basically stick _your_ head in _his_ head!

 

He shifted a bit, and you saw that a _twig_ had gotten stuck in his skull, sliding _further_ in as he tried to pull himself up

 

_No no no no no n ono no nononononononononoono thatissowrong -_

 

Your rib cage expanded, getting ready to unleash another terrified scream when the world went dark and you promptly passed out.

 

Unwitting of this, the taller skeleton groaned as he gave his skull a few firm shakes to get the debris out of his skull, hoping it wouldn’t go down into his mouth. Luckily, his experience with this made it easy, but it didn’t ease the odd feeling of things rattling around in his head.

 

When he successfully got the twig out of his skull, he looked back at you only to find that you were completely limp, eye sockets shut.

 

His giant, red orb of an eye light scanned your face for a few moments, taking particular attention to go over the chip that came downward from your eye socket and the one that marred one of your front teeth.

 

Pulling himself up into a sitting position, he scanned the rest of your tiny body, an almost confused look on his skull. His attention was stolen by the sight of his axe still laying on the ground under the net, though.

 

He made a move to grab for it, eye light not leaving your face. Laying it down beside him, the giant carefully mauvered you into his arms, holding you like you were a tiny baby. He moved you into one arm so he could grab his axe, and stood a little unsteadily, balance a bit off from not being able to use his arms.

 

If anybody else had been watching, they would have surely been surprised at the gentleness in which the huge skeleton held you.

 

But perhaps curious as well, to why he was carrying you in the exact _opposite_ of where the lodge skeletons lived.

 

//////////

 

_Red shifted the spoon in his mouth - the one he’d taken from you, cheekily grinning at you as you pouted back at him._

 

*heheheheh…

*cute.

 

_“Your tab is getting very large at this point… I don’t even know why my father lets you keep that damn thing. I also can’t see why she,” Henry pointed to you, “puts up with you at all.”_

 

_Red chuckled, pretending to close his eye sockets as he stole a quick glance at you - so far you seemed to be enjoying the outing despite his own less-than-stellar appearance. (and smell, which you’ve pointed out at least once verbally and a few times through your actions)_

 

_… Buuuuuttt, just to be sure…._

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**37/40 HP**

***She’s comfortable.**

 

 _*_ hp’s a lil’ low…

 

_Red reasoned that it could be from something minor - like a stubbed toe. Could still be reeling from waking up in a new universe._

 

_Again, though, he decided to err on the side of caution. He totally didn’t want to check her script again to see if she was thinking of him. Nope._

 

_“ya know y’love me….” His words were distracted as he performed another check._

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**37/40 HP**

***Chip. She likes movie marathons and ice cream.**

 

*ugh. tell me sumthin’ i _don’t_ know.

*... seriously.

*just one more check. can’t hurt nobody.

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**37/40 HP**

***She’s really** **_sweet._ **

 

_… That check didn’t yield anything. It’s almost like there was something trying to block him from seeing further… hm. This is new._

 

*she’s prolly tired. not thinkin’ much besides ice cream.

*again.

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**37/40 HP**

* **A good friend of yours….**

 

**… Should you really be doing this?**

 

*oh, fuck off, what are you, my conscious?

 

 _heheheh… it’s_ your _conscious_ ness _..._

 

**Y/N**

**LV 1 EXP 0**

**12 ATK 18 DEF**

**37/40 HP**

***....**

**….**

**T H I S  I S N ‘ T  F O R Y O U R  E Y E -**

 

_A coldness on Red’s skull startled him out of his little world, keeping him from reading the rest of the script._

 

_“hnn?”_

 

_It was then that he registered the fact that Henry had just dumped a glass of ice cold water on his head._

 

_“fuckin’ shit, what the hell, man?!”_

 

///////////

 

“I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU.”

 

Red cringed at the tone of his brother’s voice - it hadn’t been like that since Red had tried microwaving mustard once and it had exploded. Obviously, instead of cleaning it up he decided to pretend like it never happened.

 

… A microwave covered in mustard is sort of a dead giveaway, though.

 

Heh. _Dead_ giveaway.

 

The other skeletons in the room were giving him disapproving looks - even Sans and Stretch, who had both looked smug as hell when Slim had first started lecturing him.

 

Red didn’t know what _Sans_ had to be smug about, though, since he was the one who one: slept in her bed without her knowing and two: got an eye socket full of her socks.

 

“yeah, well at least _i_ wadn’t manipulatin’ her.” Red growled, leveling a look at Sans.

 

Said skeleton flushed Blue in anger, clenching and unclenching his fists as he retorted, “ _i haven't checked her since that time_ ! you  _checked her_ last night! _to see if she_ liked _you!_ ”

 

“BROTHERS.” Papyrus interjected, standing from his seat for the first time since the three skeletons had begun telling their stories.

 

“I DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY THIS CARD, BUT RIGHT NOW I’M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU ALL…”

 

“yeah, well what the fuck am i s’possed to do about that, huh? what’s done is diddly fuckin’ done an’ there ain’t no changin’ that.” Red said bitterly, crossing his arms and looking away. “i’m goin’ ta get a drink.”

 

Sure, he’d known that it was wrong, but saying it out loud? It made him feel absolutely _sick_ with himself. Now he just wanted to forget what SOULS even were with some strong alcohol.

 

“so that’s how it is? big bad red gonna drink himself under the table, ‘cause it’s ‘diddly fuckin’ done’?” Stretch bit out, looking down on him. _Looking down on_ him.

 

Before Red could say something that could _not_ be taken back, his brother spoke up, even louder than before, “IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH MY BROTHER, I DO IMPLORE YOU TO BE _DIRECT_ ABOUT IT, NOT THAT YOU EVER ARE!”

 

“NOW, SLIM, THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOUR BROTHER AND STRETCH - “ Blue started, placing a gloved hand on his arm.

 

A hand which Slim completely shirked as he took a threatening step towards Stretch. “NO, YOU’RE RIGHT, THIS IS ABOUT STRETCH AND _BOTH_ MY BROTHER AND I. YOU THINK YOU’RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN US, DON’T YOU?”

 

“depends, because if we’re talkin’ about crosswords, then i most definitely am.”

 

“YOU FUCKING -”

 

“guys -” Sans tried, eye lights the size of pin pricks.

 

“SHUT YOUR PATHETIC DOPPELGANGER MOUTH!”

 

“hey, hey, um, did you hear that?”

 

Before Slim could put Sans down again, Papyrus held up a hand, listening closely.

 

The other skeletons stopped arguing to listen as well.

 

A scream.

 

“UM. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES DO YOU THINK THAT CHIP WANDERED INTO THE EAST WOODS, DO YOU THINK?” Papyrus asked, looking in the direction of the Other Brothers’ house.

 

“FuCk.” Everybody exclaimed, scrambling to the door.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a few notes about this chapter to make it less confusing:
> 
> 1\. i know we didn't get proper interactions with the horror bois, but it IS coming!! next chapter. more to be said about that later.  
> 2\. i'll probably go back later to change a few things that i don't think fit anymore, so in the notes about when the next chapter will be updated, i'll probably take that time to revise any plot holes as well - i'll inform you guys which chapters have changed if it comes to that!
> 
> a couple of announcements:
> 
> 1\. my birthday is on wednesday!! horayyy, i will be turning exactly (1) year older!!  
> 2\. very sad: i'm behind on my writing schedule and i will not be able to update next week unless an easter miracle happens  
> 3\. FAN ART::
> 
> [cute chip & also our boi horror!sans!!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/184069015650/you-all-know-i-cant-help-myself-when-it-comes-to) by the amazing [@addicted-to-the-fic](https://addicted-to-the-fic.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> [adorable chip!! my child!!](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com/post/184145205655/drawianastudios-i-read-its-all-bones-baby-by) courtesy of the lovely [@drawianastudios](https://drawianastudios.tumblr.com/)


	17. SEASONings....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you!! meet!! horror tale bois!!!!!!

 

 

You woke up feeling like the sausage in the middle of a hot dog, being as your body was sandwiched between two very large cushions, feeling like you were going to get swallowed up by the comforting sensation. It wasn’t so unpleasant, in fact, you were actually quite warm.

 

… A hotdog right off of the spinner-thingy, perhaps?

 

What were those called?

 

Hmmmm…. Not important. Right now you needed to wake up, get a feel for your surroundings.

 

It was difficult to coerce your body into following your instructions, though, as your eye sockets felt too heavy to open, laden with leftover sleep from the impromptu nap you’d apparently decided to take. Your arms, too, were sluggish, trapped under your prone body.

 

So warm… so tired…

 

Your mind easily floated into a half awake - half asleep state, toes curling and uncurling as you snuggled into the soft cushions around you…

 

… so soft…

 

Why were you trying to wake up? You were so comfy…

 

Ah… you let out a little snuffle, and as you were drawing your breath back in, caught an unfamiliar scent. Two, actually.

 

They were distinctly separate, mixing around you.

 

How did you not notice those before?

 

The first, stronger and probably more recent scent was that of Fall.

 

Of chilled air, dirt and fallen, decaying leaves… with a hint of something slightly metallic. It reminded you of early sunsets and consequently early darkness, of playing alone outside as a child… it was... strangely lonely.

 

The other was Winter. A cold that shook you to your bones, with wet air that sunk into your lungs (had you had any), infecting your body with an oddly giddy feeling. It made you want to laugh, to move around to get the magic flowing in your bones. Beyond that, though, was a comforting spicy-cinnamon undertone that warmed the cold from the inside out.

 

Nice as the scents were, though, they had somehow chilled you, causing your tired body to shiver as you snuggled back into the cushion-y crevice you’d been wedged in between before.

 

Hnnn… where were you again? Probably your room. That made the most sense. Why would you be sleeping somewhere that isn’t your room? Yeah… 

 

“SO TINY!” An awed voice exclaimed.

 

It sounded… strangely familiar? Where did you know that loud voice from?

 

Papyrus… right… one of your new-ish roommates….

 

Why was he in your room, again?

 

But this can’t be  _ your _ room - no, the scents are all wrong. It should be just  _ you _ and the slight pine-y scent from the trees outside. Another, barely noticeable muted woodsy smell that came from the finish on the wood that made up the support beams of your roof.

 

A little detergent from your sheets…

 

… around you  _ here _ , though, you caught the obvious two stronger scents of monsters you didn’t know, along with the smell of old fabric… likely what you were laying on… and the same musty wood smell that was in your room, but stronger and slightly tinged with dirt.

 

… Like some sort of cabin?

 

The realization zapped you like a strike of lightning, causing the magic in your bones to tighten and coil up. You were in some stranger’s cabin!

 

Your arms scrambled from underneath your body, trying to find purchase on whatever you were laid out on. Your eye sockets flew open to take in your surroundings - landing first on the dull, green and worn fabric your face had been smooshed into not moments ago.

 

Pushing yourself up, you were able to see that the corner you’d been wedged into was the crevice of the back cushion of a couch and the sitting cushion - cushions to a couch that you’d  _ never _ seen before.

 

“LITTLE SKELETON??” The voice worriedly asked, getting louder as the owner of it came closer.

 

Papyrus, right? He certainly sounded like Papyrus…

 

You pulled your legs off the couch, perhaps a bit too fast as you were sent sprawling towards the coffee table. You shrieked, arms coming out front as you tried to stop yourself from putting a decent-sized crack in your skull.

 

“Ack! Papyrus!” You called, hoping that he would make it over in time to keep you from injuring yourself.

 

Luckily, your tall friend was both agile and lanky enough to lean over the top of the couch and catch you under your arms before you crashed. You breathed out a small sigh of relief as he pulled you closer to his chest.

 

You noticed, though, as he held you, that you were unable to feel the usual covering of his gloves over his hands. The circle of empty space in his hand could clearly be felt, even through the fabric of your sweater.

 

“Papyrus…?” You mumbled, looking for the first time into the face of your savior.

 

And it was…

 

“Or not?” The skeleton was certainly  _ a _ Papyrus, that much was obvious, but it was not  _ your _ Papyrus - er, not one of the three Papyruses you knew - least of all the one from this universe. Who was definitely in no way  _ your _ Papyrus seeing as you weren’t from this universe.

 

Nope. Not yours.

 

This Papyrus had a very similar appearance to the one from this universe, with the same cheery smile (although it was  _ slightly _ sharper than the one from your good friend) and orange tint to his magic - the exact shade of this universe’s Papyrus.

 

The only difference that you could find, so far besides the teeth, were the spectacles sat upon his nasal ridge and held up with tape to the side of his skull.

 

They were simple wire-frames, though large and perfectly round.

 

They magnified his eye sockets to thrice the size they would be, giving him a cute, geeky look.

 

“I’M AFRAID THAT YOUR FIRST GUESS WAS CORRECT… I SUPPOSE YOU SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED YOUR  _ GUT _ INSTINCTS!! NYEH HEH HEH!!”

 

You huffed out a disbelieving sound, something akin to a breathless laugh.

 

Though a slight worry was holding you back from relaxing fully (probably because you didn’t know this skeleton, you were in his house and literally tapped in his grip at the moment - there were so many uncontrollable variables… how would you get back to the boys?), you couldn’t help but play along.

 

“Now I  _ know _ you can’t be Papyrus - he would never make such a blatant a pun!”

 

“OH, I’M PAPYRUS ALRIGHT - ASK ME ANY QUESTION YOU LIKE!”

 

“Hmmmm…” You looked him over. 

 

Only to notice something that you had somehow missed before - you were literally six feet off the ground at his chest level as he held you under your arms, how tall was this Glasses-Papyrus?!

 

“M-My, how tall you are, Papyrus!”

 

“NYEH, ALL THE BETTER TO PRACTICE MY DRAMATIC POSES, LITTLE SKELETON!”

 

You giggled, anxiety about his hold abating slightly. A little ‘Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf’, huh? You brought up your arms hesitantly yet playfully to push his glasses back up his nasal ridge, disturbing the tape slightly.

 

A little more traditional for this inquiry, perhaps?

 

“My, what big eyes you have, Papyrus!”

 

“ALL THE BETTER TO SEE YOU WITH, LITTLE SKELETON!”

 

What’s next? Oh… yes… your gaze was drawn to his oddly pointy grin.

 

“My… what sharp teeth you have, Papyrus…”

 

Was it just you or did his glasses glint ominously?

 

“ALL THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH, OF COURSE, LITTLE SKELETON!”

 

Not just you.

 

You yelped, flinching away in his hold as he brought you closer whilst opening his  _ huge _ jaws.

 

… But he stopped halfway, and in your shock, you hardly noticed the way his shoulders were bouncing with restrained laughter.

 

“NYEH HEH HEH, JUST KIDDING!! YOU SHOULD SEE YOURSELF, LITTLE SKELETON! SO SCARED!” He nearly cooed, setting you down on the couch he had still been holding you over. He placed his hands on his hips as his entire body bounced with the force of his raucous laughter.

 

“Hhhhhhhhh” You breathed out, holding your sternum with both hands - you could swear your SOUL was going to pop out after that scare.

 

You muttered something, face flushed lavender in embarrassment and left over fear.

 

Glasses-Papyrus hummed in confusion, leaning his massive body over the back of the couch to bring his skull closer to yours so he could hear better. “I DIDN’T QUITE CATCH THAT, LITTLE SKELETON, SAY IT AGAIN, PLEASE?”

 

You looked up at Glasses-Papyrus, a grimace on your face, nearly tearing up, “Jerk! I was really scared! The  _ real _ Papyrus would never do that!”

 

Looking back down quickly, you didn’t catch the way Glasses-Papyrus’ grin dropped, how he flinched back slightly.

 

You did, however, notice his silence - oh, no. Had you somehow offended him? Was he going to hurt you or something? Upon glancing back up at him, though, you could tell that the Glasses-Papyrus wasn’t angry.

 

Upset, yes, but it seemed to be a more internal, nervous thing if the wringing of his hands was anything to go by.

 

He wasn’t even looking at you, instead, his gaze was focused on his feet.

 

“I… I REALLY  _ AM _ THE REAL PAPYRUS THOUGH…”

 

….. And now  _ you _ were heartbroken.

 

Look at how uncertain he seemed!

 

“... Look, um, I didn’t mean to imply that you were, like, a  _ fake _ Papyrus or anything. Seriously. I mean, I know that you’re  _ you _ . It’s fine if you’re not just like  _ this _ universe's Papyrus - That doesn’t make you any less of a cool dude!”

 

“R-REALLY? YOU THINK SO?”

 

Ugh. He looked so hopeful and  _ pure _ as he looked down on you, face hopeful. You  _ so _ had a weak spot for these skeletons. Even the ones you’ve only known for literally two minutes.

 

“Yeah! Sure, I mean, your joke was actually pretty good! I’m just a little freaked out because I woke up here… and I don’t know where here is…”

 

“OH, HOW RUDE OF ME! OF COURSE YOU WOULD BE ON EDGE!”

 

The skeleton swept his arms out, gesturing to your surroundings.

 

“WELCOME TO MY SCENIC HOUSE!”

 

Like you had expected, it was built like a rather small cabin. The couch you were in was part of a small living-area, with a coffee table in front. There was no TV, however, just bookcases that held anything ranging from textbooks to children’s books to classical novels to board games.

 

Under the furniture was a threadbare looking rug, dark navy in coloring that lay atop the wood flooring.

 

Behind the couch was a small kitchen, old yet spotless tiles on the floor and newly-installed cabinets.

 

It had a new-ish looking refrigerator, sink and electric stove, also looking newly-installed. While there was hardly any counter space, it had been maximized and cleaned spotless. You really shouldn’t expect anything less from a Papyrus.

 

Well. You shouldn’t say that, since Stretch was one of the messiest monsters you knew.

 

There were two doors and one staircase in the room. One that obviously lead outside, and another to a room you assumed must be a bathroom.

 

The staircase was adjacent to the book cases, leading up to what seemed to be a loft. The high ceiling accommodated the extra space - which was probably necessary for this poor, poor giraffe Papyrus.

 

You couldn’t see much beside the fact that a bed was pushed up against the railing of the loft. Neatly made.

 

Were those… flames painted onto the bedpost?

 

Very Papyrus-like indeed.

 

“Very nice,” you said honestly. It did seem like a very comfy and neat space, “but…”

 

You remembered the skeleton that had been your first savior - the one that looked like Sans with a big hole in his head. “Don’t you live here with your brother? Where does he sleep?”

 

“... sittin’ on it.”

 

The voice came from behind you, startling you nearly out of your  _ skin _ .

 

Shocked, you turned quickly only to come skull-to-skull with the very skeleton you’d been talking about. He was sitting on the other end of the couch, arms hooked over the back of the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, looking as though he’d been lounging for a while.

 

Despite his causal looking demeanor, though, you could feel his intense stare… the way his single, red eye light bore into you. Trying to decipher you.

 

H-how?! 

 

Teleportation?!

 

… Well, actually, it would make the most sense… he  _ had _ teleported you earlier. To save you.

 

Well, time to introduce yourself properly.

 

“H-Hey?”

 

So eloquent.

 

“hey.” 

 

“You saved me, right?”

 

He nodded, glancing towards his brother for a moment. Was it just you, or did he look away to void your gaze? Was his skull a little blue?

 

No… It’s probably just left-over from being trapped under that net…

 

“Well… thank you?”

 

“.... no problem.”

 

“SANS! EXCELLENT TIMING! OUR NEW FRIEND HAS JUST AWOKEN!”

 

“cool.”

 

Very. You didn’t think you were going to get far talking to this large Sans, who, seemed somewhat… shy? Avoidant? Choosing to address Glasses-Papyrus  instead.

 

“... So, um, where? Am I? Exactly?”

 

“IN MY - OUR HOUSE!! DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME EARLIER??”

 

Cue internal facepalm.

 

“N-No, I mean, location wise - where is your house?”

 

“OH… WELL, YOU SEE, THAT IS WE ARE IN THE WOODS, THE, UM….”

 

“east woods.” BIg-Sans imputed dully, back to looking at you intently, now that you weren’t obviously staring at him.

 

He looked like he was studying you… 

 

“THANK YOU, SANS! I’M AFRAID I’M QUITE BAD WITH THE CARDINAL DIRECTIONS MYSELF!” Glasses-Papyrus gave you an apologetic look, his nervous grin genuine.

 

“That’s fine,” you waved, grinning unsteadily back, “I’m not so hot with them, either, I grew up in the city.”

 

“THE CAPITOL?? THAT COULD EXPLAIN WHY I DON’T RECOGNIZE YOU… WELL, IT’S NICE TO SEE ANOTHER SKELETON, EITHER WAY!!”

 

Capitol? Recognizing you?

 

… Right, yes, The Underground. Sometimes it was easy to forget that your friends had been  _ trapped _ for the majority of their lives under a mountain…

 

No sky. Sunlight. Clouds. Gentle spring breezes. Fresh air… Just dirt and stone walls and ceiling.

 

Honestly it was a bit too surreal for you to fully grasp.

 

Never really sunk in.

 

But… If Big-Sans’ skull was any indicator, their universe was either tough, or something really, really bad had happened.

 

Maybe both.

 

Just thinking about these brothers made you wonder - why didn’t they live with the other skeletons, your roommates? Not enough room?

 

There  _ was _ only one spare room, the repurposed half of the attic.

 

Just another question on your list for these guys.

 

“Ah - I don’t think you would have run into me in your universe, really. I’m from a weird one”

 

Both skeletons blinked at you, at the same time. You could swear that it was almost audible.

 

“OH… SO YOU’RE ANOTHER… US…?”

 

Big-Sans behind you immediately made a huffing noise at his brother’s suggestion, spinning you to face him with his large hands, a slightly unsettled edge to his skull.

 

His gaze bore down on you, large eye light staring into your own, smaller, softer eye lights. His grin turned down at the corners as he began to inspect you, lifting your arms, turning your skull and squishing your cheek bones.

 

He was muttering, too low for you to hear lest you were all up in his personal space - luckily, though, he was all up in  _ yours _ which allowed you to hear stray sentences.

 

“sans or papyrus… sans or papyrus… small, sans… round skull, sans… big eye sockets, sans… squishy cheeks, sans…”

 

As soon as he’d started, Big-Sans stopped, leaving you slightly disoriented as he moved back in his seat.

 

“‘s a sans.” he said. For some reason he sounded… colder? Looking at you with renewed suspicion? What was going on, here?!

 

“IT DOES MAKE SENSE, SANSES HAVE A TENDENCY TO BE VERY SMALL… HMM..”

 

The Papyrus behind you made a noise of exclamation, picking you up under your arms again, “WELCOME TO OUR HOME, OTHER BROTHER!”

 

“What?” 

 

Suddenly, as though a thought just occurred to him, Glasses-Papyrus dropped you with a loud, horrified gasp.

 

“I’M SO SORRY I MADE A JOKE ABOUT EATING YOU!”

 

“you did  _ what _ ?” Big-Sans sputtered, sitting up in his seat fully. He scrambled, looking from from you to his brother in slight shock.

 

“DON’T LOOK SO WORRIED, BROTHER!! IT WAS ONLY A SMALL JOKE!!”

 

“ya said you wouldn’ do that no more…” Big-Sans seemed to be scolding his brother, but instead of admonishing, he just sounded… resigned? Accepting? He settled back to his seat, looking once again bored, scratching lightly at the back of his head near the hole… looking back at you with that same reserved look.

 

“I SAID I WOULDN’T JOKE ABOUT EATING  _ HUMANS _ ANYMORE, BROTHER, THIS IS CLEARLY A SKELETON.”

 

Big-Sans didn’t even  _ pretend _ to scold his brother this time, just giving a faint snort of amusement, already completely back to his ‘chill’ attitude. With that slight coldness towards you he seemed to have gained.

 

“How many times have you done this?!” You asked, looking between the brothers.

 

“...” 

 

“... NOT IMPORTANT! THE IMPORTANT PART IS THAT I WOULD NEVER,  _ EVER _ , EAT A VERSION OF MY BROTHER! OR JOKE ABOUT IT! AGAIN!”

 

Not very reassuring, but… well… you didn’t really have any room to be picky. It’s not like he actually  _ did _ eat you, and, honestly, you just wanted to get back to the house so you could go to sleep and perhaps forget today entirely. Maybe then you could feel comfortable living in the same house as Sans and Red.

 

“I’ll take your word for it - But, um, Papyrus? Can you, uh….. help me home?”

 

Forget your questions. The others can tell you, later. When you get back to the house. 

 

“BUT!!” Glasses-Papyrus gave you puppy dog eye sockets, “YOU JUST GOT HERE!!”

 

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. He was just so  _ similar _ to the Papyrus you knew - the closest out of all the versions you’d met. Something about this version, though, gave you the feeling that his universe might not be too different from this one...

 

All the while, Big-Sans was giving you a glare-y slightly murderous look.

 

Seriously, what did you do to get on his bad side so fast?!

 

“yeah, pal, why don’cha… stay for awhile? … let us… get t’know each other?” He grinned at you, showing off every single one of his sharper-than-regular-Sans’ teeth.

 

You scooted farther away from Big-Sans, able to tell that his tone was  _ not so friendly _ , thinking to yourself that maybe you’d be better off wandering off in the woods for the others to find you in a week.

 

“No offense, but I’m really uncomfortable right now??”

 

“NONE TAKEN. LET’S START WITH NAMES! WHAT DO THEY CALL YOU AT THE HOUSE?”

 

_ Breathe. _ In, out, in, out.

 

Okay. Okay. Maybe he’ll help you back once you… got to know each other?

 

“I mean, well, my name is - “

 

“nickname, pal, we already know your name.”

 

What? Impossible…

 

Unless… Oh! Right, they thought you were a Sans for some odd reason.

 

Big-Sans didn’t seem too keen on letting you try and explain yourself, though… you’ll go along with it for now. Maybe you can better explain once you’re introduced and everything calms down.

 

“They, uh, they call me Chip.”

 

Not a lie. The boys  _ did _ call you Chip more often than not. More than your real name, honestly…

 

Glasses-Papyrus gasped loudly, hands flying up to cover his mouth in dread.

 

Even Big-Sans looked slightly perturbed, grin turning down even  _ more _ , a slightly empathetic look in his eye light as he looked at you.

 

Well. Okay. Complete one eighty.

 

“THAT’S TERRIBLE! I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY WOULD DO THAT!”

 

“ _ i  _ can…” Big-Sans grumbled, hand forming a fist.

 

“Um?? Am I missing something?”

 

“YES!! THEY NAMED YOU AFTER YOUR, UH…” Glasses-Papyrus pointed to his face, making ambiguous hand movements.

 

“... Is there something on my face?”

 

“NO!! AND THAT’S THE PROBLEM!! YOU’RE MISSING PART OF YOUR CHEEK!! AND YOUR TOOTH!”

 

“O-oh…” you muttered, slightly self-conscious at how they recognized the connection immediately. All of your insecurities suddenly came back as you brought the collar of your sweater up to hide the imperfections.

 

“I, don’t think they, um, I don’t think they were trying to be malicious or anything…”

 

“OF COURSE, THEY  _ NEVER _ ARE…” Glasses-Papyrus sighed, hands brushing over his own skeletal grin. He didn’t sound particularly accusing, but his melancholy tone was no less upset.

 

“or so they fuckin’  _ say _ …”

 

“I have a feeling this is a tad personal?” 

 

“A BIT!” Glasses-Papyrus fidgeted with the sleeves of what looked to be a home-knit sweater.

 

Huh. How come you hadn’t noticed that before?

 

It was actually pretty… cute, and endearing…

 

You were warming up  _ fast _ to the skeleton that had made a joke about eating you, and you weren’t sure if that was a bad thing? Like, seriously, he was so sweet! His brother on the other hand…

 

“YOU SEE, OTHER BROTHER, WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED MY SMILE WAS NOT SO MAGNIFICENT AS IT IS NOW!! MY TEETH WERE ALL… CROOKED…”

 

A feeling of empathy built up in your chest as you realized what must have happened. Oh. No. Sure this skeleton was a bit off-putting, definitely lonely and socially-starved, but he seemed to be a big sweetheart in between jokes about eating people and his brother’s aura.

 

Like this universe’s Papyrus, but more awkward. Taller, ganglier...

 

“... They named you after your teeth?”

 

“...CROOKS! THEY CALLED ME… THEY  _ CALL _ ME CROOKS…”

 

Now his horror at them naming you after your imperfections made sense. To him, it was another form of their bullying.

 

Had they left because there wasn’t enough space, or because he didn’t want to be called ‘Crooks’ anymore?

 

Just the thought had your SOUL hurting.

 

“I’m sorry, Papyrus, that sounds… awful… “

 

“I CERTAINLY DIDN’T FEEL VERY WELCOME… BUT THEN THEY NAMED MY BROTHER  _ AXE _ …”

 

Oh. Well. Um. Didn’t sound quite so terrible as being named after your crooked teeth, but maybe it was a sore spot?

 

“BECAUSE OF THE RUNNING ‘JOKE’ THAT HE LOOKED LIKE AN AXE-MURDERER!”

 

“Oh my god.”

 

_ That _ . That right there was some really down-putting stuff.

 

You turned to the Big-Sans behind you, who was looking at the ground, glaring.

 

“i don’ mind it so much…” He said, although you could tell that that  _ obviously _ wasn’t the case.

 

Conflict arose in your SOUL. You  _ really, really _ wanted to comfort this Sans look-alike, despite the fact that Sans  _ himself _ was in the doghouse, currently.

 

But he’d also been very standoffish towards you, his glances half-threatening.

 

Would you even be welcome if you tried to comfort him?

 

“That’s… so…  _ unlike _ them…” You settled on for a reply, sitting with your knees pulled under yourself, hands in your lap.

 

The boys… how… how could they be so  _ cruel? _ And to a pair of brothers who looked like they hadn’t been treated so well in the past?

 

This Papyrus’ teeth were back to normal, but that didn’t mean that he needed a constant reminder of what had happened to him, and this Sans? Nobody deserves to be called an  _ axe-murderer _ by other versions of himself!

 

These two didn’t deserve to be ostracized by  _ themselves _ !

 

“I didn’t think Papyrus, this universe’s Papyrus or Blue or even  _ Stretch _ could really do something like that…”

 

Blue and Papyrus would  _ never _ ,  _ ever _ in a million years be so cruel to give those nicknames, and even Slim had better standards than that! What with low hanging fruit… 

 

And, sure, Stretch could be an immature brat, but even  _ he _ could probably see when a boundary  _ that _ bad was crossed, right?

 

But he had been the one to deem you Chip, and you could still recall how uncomfortable that had made you at first…

 

Crooks and Axe, though?

 

“WELL, IT WASN’T REALLY A HOUSE-WIDE DECISION…”

 

“they still wen’ along wit’ it…” Big-Sans growled lowly.

 

“Who?” You almost demanded, giving Glasses-Papyrus a stern look.

 

He looked away evasively, wringing his hands again and starting to sweat. The exact same nervous face Papyrus got when he tried to hide information from you!

 

“WHAT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER?? WHAT DO THEY CALL  _ HIM _ ?”

 

Oh. Um. Change of topic, anyone?

 

No sense in lying, though, maybe your truth would spark some in him?

 

And, well, you didn’t exactly want to push Glasses-Papyrus to admitting anything he felt uncomfortable about. Even if you did want to know which skeletons were getting a slap once you got home.

 

Also. Well. Look how  _ the truth and ‘trust’ _ had turned out with the others. Sans and Red in particular. You could feel your SOUL whining as you recalled the pure  _ betrayal _ of their actions.

 

But… this wasn’t Sans  _ or _ Red. Nope.

 

Just a stranger who’s cabin you woke up in fifteen minutes ago.

 

… And even behind you, a skeleton who resembled a certain  _ someone _ you were currently fighting with.

 

Stop. You shouldn’t project the emotions and betrayals of other Sanes onto this one….

 

“He’s, uh, not with me. Us. Anymore.”

 

“DID HE MOVE OUT?”

 

“No, um, more of a not-among us anymore sort of deal.”

 

“YOU MEAN…” Glasses-Papyrus looked even sadder, nearly tearing up. “HE’S... “ Whispering now, Glasses-Papyrus emphasized his last word,  _ “DEAD?!” _

 

“...” You cleared the throat you didn’t have, looking off to the side. Damn. No matter how many times you told this story, you always got choked up.

 

Speaking-wise, it got easier, but still… suppressed feelings from years ago made themselves known to be present through unconscious tears at the edges of your eye sockets.

 

“Um. Yeah. Yeah, he’s d - gone.”

 

Another gasp.

 

“THAT’S SO SAD!! I’M SO SAD!!”

 

Shifting on the couch behind you caught your attention.  _ Sans. _

 

Not Sans.

 

A Sans. Not  _ the _ Sans you were having a spat with.

 

But still.  

 

“It, uh, it happened a long time ago…”

 

You didn’t  _ really _ want to look back at him to see his expression, but you figured that it was better to know than to not, so you took a quick glance.

 

He was… thoughtful? Looking at you with some sort of curiosity?

 

The look was too much for you - as well as his second change of mood that day.

 

Looking back to Papyrus revealed, though, that he was about three seconds away from breaking out the ‘NYOO HOO HOO’s.

 

Maybe it’s time to end this visit.

 

“I would like to go home now…?” Would they finally let you leave?

 

It’s not that you didn’t want to get to know them better - they were another version of your friends! Of course you wanted to know them, see their quirks, but….

 

While Glasses-Papyrus had grown on you during your short stay, though you were rather unsurprised by this, Big-Sans?

 

Creepy.

 

Volatile.

 

One second he had been looking away and perhaps even blushing - next he treated you like an enemy with his out right staring and at times hostile glares - and now he was looking at you like you were a foreign language he was trying to figure out.

 

Now that you think about it, though, the hostilness started whenever he’d come to the conclusion… the conclusion that you were a Sans.

 

A realization.

 

“It was Sans, right, the original?”

 

Glasses-Papyrus stopped in his attempt to reply to your statement/question, giving you a confused look.

 

“WHAT ABOUT HIM?”

 

“He was the one that named you guys…” You trailed, not wanting to actually say the grotesque nicknames.

 

“...” The tall skeleton grimaced slightly, but spoke anyways as he looked away, “YES.”

 

You could almost hear the hurt in that single word.

 

The hurt spawned from a look-alike of your brother, no, your  _ brother _ , whom you’d looked up to your entire life, a new-ish, shiny and uninjured version - a reflection of what he perhaps used to be - … him calling you ‘Crooks’.

 

“That guy’s such a fuckin’ jerk…” You muttered before you could stop yourself, hands forming fists in your lap.

 

The Sans behind you snorted unexpectedly, letting out a small huff of laughter.

 

“OH. WELL. PERHAPS JUST A BIT MISGUIDED.” You could tell that he  _ really, really _ wanted to believe his own words.

 

“I’m not so inclined to let him off easy on this… although perhaps that’s more of a personal issue.” You admitted.

 

Glasses-Papyrus nodded thoughtfully.

 

“YOU SANSES  _ DO _ HAVE A TENDENCY TO BE… LESS THAN KIND TO YOURSELVES,” He gave you a wink, “LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY! JUST REMEMBER THAT. WHAT HE DID WAS…. HURTFUL AT BEST, CRUEL AT WORST, BUT… THEY NEVER TREATED US PARTICULARLY BAD. ASIDE FROM SOME WARINESS.”

 

“I, MYSELF, FIND FORGIVENESS RATHER EASY - ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE I CARE ABOUT!” Continuing, Glasses-Papyrus held your hands in his, “SO… MAYBE YOU’LL FIND IT EASIER TO FORGIVE THEM IF YOU’RE JUST NOT SO HARD ON YOURSELF!”

 

BIg-Sans grunted behind you, and you got the feeling that he’s… heard this speech before. And the reiteration did nothing to convince him further.

 

“That’s nice, Papyrus, but I think I should tell you that I’m… well, I’m not a Sans.”

 

Another set of audible blinks, Glasses-Papyrus let go of your hands.

 

“OH… SO YOU’RE A PAPYRUS, THEN?? UM. WELL. A LITTLE ODD…. BUT. OKAY….. OTHER ME??”

 

You giggled at his flustering, “No, no, I’m not part of a set of brothers. Though it may surprise you - I’m actually a girl.”

 

It took a few seconds for the information to register - you could tell.

 

Once it did, a slow, orange blush of embarrassment climbed up the alternate-Papyrus’ skull until he was glowing like a lightbulb.

 

“I’M  - - !!!!! THIS IS SO!!!!”

 

For a moment he seemed to short circuit, ungloved hands taking his glasses off, unsticking the tape before he set them down gently on the little end table next to the couch and rubbed the bones of the heel of his palm into his eye sockets.

 

You turned behind you to see Big-Sans, who was giving you a look of shock, working eye socket wide, eye light for the first time that you’d seen, a pinprick in his socket. His mouth opened and closed for a few minutes before a tiny,

 

“y-you’re  _ not _ ?” Escaped him.

 

“Nope.” you popped the ‘p’, a little smug - it was hard not to be when you’d just reduced two monster’s minds to mush.

 

A loud gasp sounded behind you, sounding desperate for air.

 

Glasses-Papyrus was putting his glasses back on, still as flushed as before. 

 

“I’M SORRY!! THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING! PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY ASSUMPTIONS, FRIEND!”

 

“It’s fine,” you giggled slightly, still amused by their reactions, “The others were a little surprised to be honest, which is understandable. The machine’s only brought versions of you guys so far, right?”

 

“AS FAR AS I KNOW…”

 

The Sans beside you shifted again, prompting you to glance at him.

 

What caught your attention, though, was that he was staring intently at your rib cage. And you didn’t have anything summoned, which means….

 

Oh. 

 

You’d almost forgotten what had brought you out here - !

 

And it seemed pretty obvious that these brothers were very, _ very _ similar to the originals.

 

Probably similar enough for Sans to have the same…. Abilities.

 

Was he looking at your SOUL right now?

 

Had he been doing it all this time?

 

… No. If he had, then he probably would have realized that you weren’t a Sans a lot sooner.

 

You bringing your arms up to cover your chest (though you knew that it wouldn’t help to cover your SOUL should he really be looking at it), seemed to catch his attention, though.

 

He blinked at you a little, that still slightly-shocked and confused look focusing back on your face.

 

“Stop it! My SOUL is  _ not _ for oggling!”

 

A few seconds.

 

Much like had happened with Papyrus earlier, a blush steadily rose in his cheeks, although it was blue. A bit more muted than the ‘original’ Sans, but captivating in its own way.

 

“n-no, i wa - “

 

“No? Hm? Admiring the texture of my sweater, were you?”

 

“i - “

 

“the color, then??”

 

“i just,”

 

He stopped, almost like he was waiting for you to stop him again. You raised a brow.

 

“Well, then, go on.”

 

“h-habit…” he muttered softly, sounding so different than when he was threatening you before. Similar to when he’d first saved you.

 

A bit of sympathy leaked into your rage, mixing around inside your SOUL.

 

That’s right - he saved you.

 

Didn’t give him the right to look at your SOUL, but… perhaps you should hear him out.

 

“can’t see SOULS no more,” he explained, quietly, tapping the side of his skull, next to his hole.

 

Any rage you had died in an instant.

 

Oh. Well now  _ you _ felt like the asshole.

 

You breathed out an embarrassed sound, feeling your own skull heat.

 

“Oh. Well. I’m. Um. Sorry. For assuming.” Darn. you could hardly hold eye contact and it was  _ not _ due to fear.

 

Big-Sans snorted, looking away as his grin twitched up wards, suddenly seeming so…. Cute??

 

What? No???

 

“‘s, uh, okay. i thought you were a dude. and a sans.”

 

“YES, I THINK WE’VE ALL LEARNED OUR LESSON ABOUT ASSUMING THINGS….”

 

“Yup,” you sighed, leaning back into the couch.

 

Ugh. Talk about emotionally exhausted.

 

A knock at the door.

 

“MORE VISITORS?!” Glasses-Papyrus exclaimed in surprise, rushing over to open the door.

 

… Three skeletons.

 

Slim, Papyrus and Stretch. (the last of which seemed to be facing away from the cabin, looking to be on a phone call of sorts.)

 

“HELLO, OTHER ME!!” Papyrus started, looking around Glasses-Papyrus to glance inside the cabin.

 

“YOU SEE, WE RECENTLY LOST OUR GOOD FRIEND, SHE RESPONDS TO THE NAME CHIP - HAVE YOU SEEN HER? SHE’S A SKELETON ABOUT YEIGH HIGH…”

 

“Very Tiny. Wearing Hideous Sweats. Very Puny Looking. Purple. Facial Scarring -” Slim interrupted Papyrus, holding up a photo of your face - wait, when had he taken that?! And when did he have the time to print out a missing poster?!

 

“Papyrus! Slim!” You chirp, sitting up on the couch to waive at them.

 

Big-Sans’ skull was turned in their direction, and while you couldn’ see his expression, you could feel that his aura had become… less than welcoming.

 

Did he really have that bad of a grudge against the main-house skeletons?

 

“CHIP!! OUR DEAR FRIEND!!” Papyrus exclaimed, waiving back.

 

Slim looked at you, fangs turned down in a frown, but his eye sockets were obviously relieved.

“I Had Hoped You Weren’t Incompetent Enough To Get Caught In One Of Their Traps - Guess It Was Wishful Thinking.” His words were biting, but their tone was softer - he’s glad, at least, that you were safe instead of wandering around in the woods.

 

Glasses-Papyrus let them in, but Stretch remained facing away on the porch, still talking to someone.

 

“NO WORRIES, OTHER MES!! I’VE TAKEN GOOD CARE OF OUR FRIEND - UHHHH”

 

He looked at you, “SORRY, BUT I DON’T THINK WE EVER CAUGHT YOUR NAME!!”

 

You gave it with a grin, “but again, the boys call me Chip.”

 

“I STILL DON’T LIKE IT… WHAT ABOUT… TINY!! YES, YOU ARE VERY TINY!!”

 

You giggled, suddenly feeling so relieved. Your friends were here and you’ve made new… friends? Yeah. Totally friends.

 

“Pfft, sure. As long as I can give you a nickname, as well.”

 

“REALLY?!?!” Glasses-Papyrus exclaimed

 

“GREAT IDEA!!” Papyrus gasped, “ER, OTHER ME HERE DIDN’T GET THE BEST NICKNAME…”

 

Slim nodded his head in a terse manner with his arms crossed.

 

You grinned. You knew your friends weren’t the type to do something like that.

 

“ _ must _ be bad if even the edge-lord agrees…” Big-Sans commented.

 

Slim bristled, “IT’S PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THAT NICKNAME THAT I AGREE, IDIOT.”

 

Papyrus caught your confused look and explained, “HIS ORIGINAL NICKNAME WAS EDGE… AFTER THE OTHERS LEFT WE REALIZED THAT SOME NAMES WEREN’T… THE MOST RESPECTFUL. FOR EXAMPLE, BLUE USED TO BE BLUEBERRY.”

 

“... But these guys never got any new nicknames?”

 

“PROBABLY OUR FAULT, TO BE HONEST.” Glasses-Papyrus admitted, “WE NEVER REALLY REACHED OUT AFTER WE LEFT.”

 

“Well, I guess I’m flattered to pick your new nickname, then…” you looked him over. What could you use to give him a new nickname?

 

Suddenly, you remembered how when you're woken up, you’d been met with the scents of Fall and Winter.

 

But which belonged to who?

 

You remembered the metallic tinge of Fall, and your gaze landed on ‘Axe’. Most likely him.

 

So… “Winter.”

 

Glasses-Papyrus tried it out a few times, a large grin forming on his face.

 

“WINTER!! I LIKE IT! LIKE GYFTMAS!”

 

You grinned back, “I’m glad!”

 

“I AGREE!” Papyrus exclaimed, “IT’S VERY CHARMING!!”

 

“I’ve got one for you too, if you want.” You addressed Big-Sans.

 

He looked at you, cheekbones a little blue as his hand came up to hook in his socket. “uuuhhhhhhh…. if ya want, i guess.”

 

“Okay, umm… well, going with the season theme, I guess I could to with Autumn or Fall, but Autumn seems feminine…. So Fall it is, I guess… Is that okay? Fall?”

 

“WOW! IT SOUNDS VERY NICE!” Papyrus encouraged.

 

Winter nodded, as well. “IT’S VERY PRETTY!”

 

“eheheh… thanks… i uh, like it too….” Fall muttered, rubbing the fabric of his hoodie in between two of his phalanges.

 

“That’s good… guess I should get going now, huh?”

 

“YES!! YOU’VE ONLY BEEN GONE FOR AN HOUR, BUT IT FEELS LIKE MUCH LONGER!!” Papyrus exclaimed.

 

“If You're Done Wasting Time…” Slim muttered.

 

“OH!! BUT BEFORE YOU GO, CAN WE EXCHANGE NUMBERS?? I WOULD LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER!!” Winter got his phone out, holding it to you hopefully.

 

“Ahh - I left my phone at home,” probably not so smart on your part. “But I can give you my number.”

 

You typed the number, entering yourself under ‘Tiny’, and handed the phone back to Winter with a grin.

 

“THANKS!! OH - DON’T WORRY BROTHER, I’LL SEND YOU THE NUMBER AS WELL!”

 

Fall grunted in response, still slightly embarrassed.

 

“y’all done?” Stretch asked, poking his head in.

 

“Yeah, just about.” you replied, “What, got anywhere to be?”

 

Stretch smirked, holding up his phone, “yeah, apparently our bros got themselves into a bit of a situation involving a very heavy net.”

 

You all stared at Fall as he burst into a rather unexpected fit laughter.

 

You couldn’t help but snicker as well - you got the feeling you knew  _ just _ which net he was referring to.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya:::
> 
> so!! i still have not caught up on my writing schedule - i won't be able to update next week, either - but i will /hopefully/ be back the week after with my schedule all fixed!! this chapter was /loonnng/ and took forever to write!!!!
> 
> next chapter will be the perspective of the other bois, though, so look forward to that!!
> 
> also, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday uwu!!
> 
> here's my tumblr in case you wanna be friends!!!!!! [UWU](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com)


	18. PLEASE READ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pls read.

soooooo.... hey.

 

in case you weren't aware:

\- there was a tornado last week  
\- there was lots of flooding last week  
\- power went out last week a few times  
\- my ac is busted because of all this bs  
\- also finals in a few weeks

 

for these reasons, i will be placing this fic on a TEMPORARY hiatus.

like, probably a month and YES, I KNOW!!

IT'S TERRIBLE!! THIS IS NOT SARCASM, I HAVE BEEN ON THE OTHER END OF THE SCREEN, I SWEAR!! I KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE A FIC I'M READING GO ON HIATUS!!

BUT IT'S LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO DO LIFE AND WRITE AT THE SAME TIME CURRENTLY!!

 

SO THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!

HAVE A NICE DAY, PLEASE!


	19. it's just me myself and i

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> while /you/ were gettin' chummy with the horror bros the other skeletons were having a bit of a crisis.

 

 

…

 

“GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY!”

 

“LANGUAGE!! AND I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS MY DOOR, AS WELL, SLIM…”

 

“fff--- why’ja fuckin’ elbow me, fuckin’ grinnin’ trashbag??”

 

“i dunno, why’dja shove your rib cage into my elbow?”

 

“‘kay, guys, i’m a little trapped here…”

 

Stretch wiggled around usually as the monsters around him struggled to be the first out of the door. He just so happened to be the shortest Papyrus, which made it rather _difficult_ to strongarm his way out of these situations - especially since the Sansi weren’t above using a little _elbow_ grease to get their way.

 

“ **STOP!!** ” Blue shouted, shocking the other housemates into a stunned silence.

 

The small Sans had always possessed a large voice - it seemed to be one of the traits that carried over from the traditional ‘Papyrus’ personality.

 

The force in which he had put into that one word, though, nearly had the other housemates jumping out of their, heh, _skin_.

 

Whilst the alternates were all frozen, Blue strode forward to separate Stretch from the others, inverdently saving him from having his tibia stomped on by an angry Slim and having an elbow smash into his jaw as a result of the scuffle Sans and Red had gotten into.

 

Stretch stumbled as Blue pulled him out, nearly tripping over his own long legs as his brother stared down the others.

 

“What Do You Th-” Slim started, but an imposing glare from the short skeleton shut him up surprisingly quickly.

 

“I CANNOT _BELIEVE_ YOU ALL!!!”

 

“no offense, _baby-blue_ , but sum’of us ‘re tryin’ ta get shit done,” Red hissed, angry at both Blue’s intrusion and his put down of Slim.

 

“THIS!!!” Blue stomped his foot, letting go of Stretch’s arm to glower at his counterpart, left eye socket briefly flickering with a vibrant blue color neither were new to.

 

“IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!! DO NONE OF YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF _TEAMWORK?_ ”

 

“i know that it makes the dream work?” Stretch offered quietly.

 

Ignoring his comment, Papyrus cleared his throat, straightening up and dispelling the bone he was most definitely _not_ going to use to bash in the skull of his own edgier counterpart, who he currently held in a headlock position under one arm. (well, he wasn't planning to hit him _too_ hard, at least.)

 

“I AM WELL VERSED IN THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCT OF TEAMWORK, ACTUALLY. AND I DO AGREE WITH BLUE’S ASSERTION THAT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IN THIS SITUATION...”

 

Slim glared at Papyrus whilst the Sansi gave each other knowing looks, momentarily forgetting their rivalry.

 

“...WHICH IS WHY I THINK IT WOULD BE BEST, AS THE MOST FIT CANDIDATE, THAT I LEAD THE SEARCH PARTY!”

 

Slim growled, wrenching him away from Papyrus’ grip and pointing accusingly at the slightly shorter skeleton.

 

“‘MOST FIT CANDIDATE???’ HA! Don’t Make Me Laugh, You Fool! Twas _I_ Who Earned The Position Of Vice-Captain Of The Royal Guard In My Universe!”

 

Largely undeterred, Papyrus actually _brightened_ at the mention of Slim’s ‘qualifications’.

 

“THANK YOU FOR REMINDING US, SLIM, _WHO_ EXACTLY HOLDS SENIORITY OVER THIS UNIVERSE! AS THE SKELETON MOST ACQUAINTED WITH THIS WORLD, I DO BELIEVE I SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO LEAD THE PARTY!”

 

Slim, whose skull was glowing a fiery orange-red with his anger, stomped his foot a few times before once again leveling an accusing finger at Papyrus.

 

“I DEMAND A DUEL!!” He screeched, summoning a sharp bone construct in his hand and raising it over his head.

 

… Only to be stopped in his actions by Sans, who held a hand up, signaling that it was _his_ blue magic that restrained Slim’s movements. Red turned to Sans and growled, slapping his hand down.

 

By the time this happened, though, Papyrus had already moved out of the way, leaving Slim to stumble forward. He summoned his own bone and posed confidently.

 

“I AGREE!”

 

Sans whistled through his flat grin, raising his brow bones at Red.

 

“guess we know who’s leadin’ the party.”

 

Glowering, Red stood to his full height to loom over Sans, “yeah, my bro if ya keep it in yer fuckin’ _pants_ and stop _cheatin’_.”

 

A snap rang out across the room, and all the magic in the room dispelled, leaving the dueling Papyri and Sansi confused.

 

The looked to Blue, who’d been the one to snap.

 

“ _REALLY_ ,” Blue admonished, looking to his counterparts, “I WOULD’VE THOUGHT THAT AS THE _OLDER_ BROTHERS, YOU’D KNOW WHEN TO STOP THIS SORT OF _BULLSHIT_ IN ITS TRACKS!”

 

Slim and Papyrus slowly deflated, feeling shame well up in their rib cages.  The Sansi, on the other hand, bristled up at the accusation of immaturity.

 

Blue shot them a venomous look, crossing his arms over his rib cage.

 

“BECAUSE THIS _IS_ BULLSHIT, YOU KNOW! WHAT _FOR THE LOVE OF THE STARS_ ARE YOU FIGHTING OVER, ANYWAYS? WHO GETS TO GO OUT THE DOOR FIRST? WHO GETS TO LEAD THE PARTY? DO YOU THINK SHE’S REALLY GOING TO GIVE A _FUCK_ ABOUT WHO GOT OUT OF THE DOOR FIRST, HMM?”

 

“I…” It was Papyrus who broke the tense silence after Blue’s chastising first. “YOU’RE RIGHT. IT WAS VERY THOUGHTLESS OF US… I… I DON’T DESERVE TO LEAD THE GROUP AFTER HOW I’VE ACTED.”

 

Slim, still proud, stood up straight as he pulled a folded up paper from his pocket.

 

“Very Well, Then, I Suppose It Falls To Me To Lead The Group… As You Can See Here,” Slim held up the paper - it was… a missing poster with your face on it?. “I Have Been Prepared For A Situation Like This To Arise.”

 

“alrighty then,” red rubbed his hands together and tuned to the door, only to be stopped by Sans pulling on his hood.

 

“yeah, no.”

 

“th’ fuck’dja want from me, shorty? _yer_ bro said ‘e was steppin’ down.”

 

“yeah, an’ by _his_ logic, yer bro ain’t in a better position...”

 

“see, that’s th’ thing, ‘nilla, yer bro _voluntarily_ stepped down, jus’ like ya took a _voluntary_ look at dolly’s socks, so,”

 

“why does that have anything to do with this, asshole??”

 

“‘m jus’ saying that jus’ like _we_ didn’ gotta go an’ be perverts like _ya_ , sansy, means my bro don’ gotta follow yer’s example.”

 

“OH. MY. STARS.” Blue slapped both of his hands to his face and screeched into them. It was a few moments before he was composed, but the others remained oddly quiet and patient.

 

“ _YOU_ . _TWO.”_ Blue said scathingly, pointing to his two alternates then making a ‘come hither’ motion with his fingers.

 

“YOU WILL SEARCH WITH ME. THE PAPYRUSES WILL START THEIR OWN SEARCH PARTY - “

 

“Which _I_ Shall Lead!” Slim interjected.

 

“NO. WHICH _STRETCH_ , WHO HAS BEEN BLESSEDLY QUIET THROUGH THIS ORDEAL, SHALL LEAD. YOU THREE GO STRAIGHT TO THE BROTHERS’ HOUSE. THE SANSES AND I SHALL SEARCH THE EAST WOODS.”

 

“copy that, boss.” Stretch saluted comically and ushered the other Papyri out the door. Besides Slim being snappish, it didn’t seem that the group was too upset about the turn of events.

 

When they were gone, Blue finally drug his gaze to Red and Sans.

 

“AND YOU TWO CLOWNS WILL BE WITH ME. WE’LL START WITH THE TRAIL OUT BACK AND LOOK AROUND THERE.”

 

Red kicked his feet sullenly, gazing ruefully at the door. Sans, for his part, seemed to be calmer than before, at least.

 

“an’ why can’ we just pop by the weird bros’ place with a ‘port?” The taller growled.

 

“YOU TWO MUST BE MORE THICKLY-SKULLED THAN I THOUGHT. DO YOU _REALLY_ THINK (Y/N) WANTS TO SEE YOU RIGHT NOW?”

 

The reminder of how this situation had arisen caused the two skeleton’s hubris to fall flat. Their shoulders hunched and they followed Blue silently out. Each knew that searching  the trails was mostly just a formality - it was almost certain that the brothers had already picked you up or you’d found your way to their house.

 

Still, they kept a sharp eye socket out. After all, they _had_ heard you shriek. While there's been no loud noises of struggle since, the possibility of you having been abducted was always that - a possibility.

 

Well. At least the weather was nice. It would have been a really nice morning if not for the mistakes of a certain two skeletons.

 

… But did Blue, the thief, have any right to judge them?

 

Of course his transgressions against you were not quite on the same level as theirs…

 

“SO,” Blue started, trying to sound casual.

 

/////

 

“how do you think your bros are gonna get back into chippy’s good graces?”

 

Papyrus and Slim blinked a few times in tandem was they registered the question. Slim’s response took less time to craft, and he spoke condescendingly as he strode ahead of the others.

 

“My Brother Is Quite Terrible With Things Like This… I Imagine It Will Be Similar To How He Is With His Romantic Trysts In The Past. Lots Of Groveling And Sniveling Once He Gets Over Himself. Although… Considering Their Current Relationship, There Will Most Likely Be A _Lot_ Less Sex Than With The Others.”

 

Stretch quirked a brow bone at Slim, easily adjusting his strides to catch up with the other. “‘other romantic trysts’? You sayin’ chip’s on the same level as them?”

 

Slim’s sharp cheekbones heated with indignation as he sputtered out a response. “Of Course Not!! Even The Most Bull-headed Aaron Could Tell That Her Standards Are Not So Easily Met Or Lowered, Unlike The Females In Our Universe Who Took Solace In _Sans_ Of All Monsters!”

 

“RIGHT YOU ARE, SLIM. CHIP IS A SKELETON OF STANDARDS!” Papyrus exclaimed as he caught up with Slim and Stretch. “AND, IF I KNOW MY BROTHER AS WELL AS I CLAIM TO, I’M SURE HE’LL AVOID CHIP FOR A WHILE UNTIL HE INEVITABLY ATTEMPTS TO FIND COMFORT IN THE BOTTLE AND DRINKS HIMSELF INTO A GUILTY STUPOR. FROM THEN HE WOULD MOST LIKELY CONFRONT CHIP AS A SORRY EXCUSE OF A SKELETON AND CRY A LOT.”

 

Stretch shrugged his shoulders lazily, thinking over each of the other Papyrus’ descriptions. He could definitely see either being true.

 

“yeah, sounds about right, but none of that’s _actually_ gonna fix things, y’know? how do you think things are gonna get back to normal?”

 

“SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING OUR BROTHERS NEED TO THINK OF THEMSELVES!” Papyrus responded. Slim grunted in agreement.

 

//////

 

“hey, looks like th’ ground was all stirred up right over here!” Red called out to Blue and Sans, cutting the shorter skeleton off in his inquiry.

 

Whilst Blue had been ‘leading’ the group in a general direction along the path, Both Sans and Red had taken it upon themselves to, ahem, ‘expand the search area’ by standing as far apart from each other as Blue would allow.

 

And, while Blue was a bit irked at being interrupted, this search was about you! Not his own petty grudges or questions!

 

Sans headed over, leaving Blue as the last to arrive on the scene.

 

“WELL… IT DOES LOOK LIKE THERE WAS SOME SORT OF STRUGGLE, HERE…” Blue noted, looking at the ground which was _quite_ disturbed - crunched leaves and broken twigs, drag marks in the dirt -

 

“uh, heh, blue?” Sans warned, fidgeting in his spot.

 

“WHAT?” The skeleton in question deadpanned. Was he worried Blue might fall into a pit of quicksand? There obviously wasn’t anyone else around for a sizable amount of space, and the scuffle that had created this mess was long over -

 

“ERK!!!”

 

… Or not. It seems a trap had been activated as soon as Blue stepped into its radius, leaving a heavy rope to fall on the small(er) skeleton. The shock of it brought Blue instantly to his knees, and then to his hands and knees as he tried to resist the weight.

 

“... how did i get _rope_ d inta this…?” Sans said passively, watching the struggle.

 

“YOU KNOW WHAT??? I _REALLY_ DON’T NEED COMMENTARY FROM YOU, MR. FUNNY BONES!!!!!! JUST. HELP. ME. OUT!!!”

 

Sans stood where he was, much to the confusion of blue, until Red stepped out beside him to where Blue could see.

 

The grinning piece of shit had his hands in his pockets and seemed to be casual as can be.

 

“oh, yeah, we’ll help ya out, baby-blue…”

 

Sans’ passive expression morphed into a mischievous one as he high fived Red on the down low - these - these SLIPPERY SNAILS!!! They were arguing five seconds ago!!!

 

“ _rrriiiight_ after we check on the horror bros. just a quick lil visit to check if chip’s there.” The blue skeleton continued, shrugging, shutting his right eye socket.

 

“TWO. QUESTIONS.”

 

“welllllll… “ Red’s grin sharpened. “ i ain’t the _captive_ audience here, but i’ll _bite_.” He clicked his teeth together for emphasis.

 

Sans snorted. The unholy duo high fived again.

 

“HONESTLY. THE TWO OF YOU ARE LIKE A PAIR OF UNRULY TWINS… EXCEPT I DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE IS THE EVIL ONE…”

 

“alliance of convenience, more like, but that ain’t a question.”

 

“FINE FINE, TWIST MY ARM, WON’T YOU?...  FIRST, I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU TWO PLANNED THIS.”

 

“nah,” Red replied, “jus’ lucky. we sanses ‘re opportunists, though, as i’m sure _ya_ know.”

 

 _‘OF COURSE,_ ’ Blue thought to himself, _‘I WAS GIVING THESE MISCREANTS TOO MUCH CREDIT.’_

 

“ALRIGHT. NEXT - I’LL ASK YOU AGAIN. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? YOU SHOW UP AT THE OTHER BROTHERS’ HOUSE? SHE’S THERE? DO YOU REALLY THINK SHE’S GOING TO WANT TO SEE _Y O U  T W O ? “_

 

Despite literally being on his hands and knees, Blue hoped that he was somehow able to instill a doubt in his counterparts.

 

… Also, this net was just getting heavier and heavier, almost making Blue think that the pressure was going to start causing his ribs to cave in before long.

 

At least the other two seemed to be perturbed.

 

Sans’ grin was tense, hands in his hoodie pockets and eyelights dim as he thought. Red, on the other hand, was much more expressive with his emotions.

 

He snapped his teeth at Blue again, although in a much less joking manner than the first. “yeah, who fuckin’ cares? ’ll ‘xplain it…”

 

Blue rolled his eye lights in his skull, “AS A FIRST HAND WITNESS TO YOU ‘EXPLAINING IT’, I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW SHE’S GOING TO HAVE THE EXACT SAME REACTION AS THE REST OF US, AND IT ISN’T GOING TO BE PRETTY.”

 

There was a small, tense and angry silence while Sans and Red thought over Blue’s words. Of course, they were _much_ less intelligent than they would like to think, so Blue didn’t trick himself into thinking that he’d somehow managed to touch some deep, hidden part of their SOULs that lent itself to emotional intelligence.

 

Blue glanced up at the two from his own humbled position and saw something that made him want to grin as wide as Red had been moments ago.

 

“BEHIND YOU.”

 

Antsy skeletons as they were, the two turned. As they over corrected for their quick movement, they triggered a _second_ net that fell upon both of them. The two were quickly reduced to a tangled mess of bones on the forest floor, struggling and cursing.

 

“blue!!!” one of them yelled, much to the skeleton in question’s amusement.

 

“LIKE YOU SAID. WE SANSES ARE SKELETONS OF OPPORTUNITY.”

 

It was a few moments of watching the two struggle before Blue got tired of watching the sad sight, and decided to give them a little MERCY.

 

“... EVEN BABYBONES KNOW HOW TO USE BLUE MAGIC, YEAH? STOP FLAILING AROUND.”

 

Blue, himself, found throwing off the net easy enough without the use of magic - It was heavy, but his training in the Royal Guard had well prepared him for this moment. Once he was free, he looked over the net.

 

It looked heavy and well made… Although he knew it likely belonged to the Other Brothers, he couldn’t help but think that  a net of this size and weight was largely excessive… something this heavy would have crushed smaller prey instantly, and, if not, they would have been able to escape through the gaps… larger prey would have also likely been severely injured or damage the rope..

 

“... um… slight problem.” Sans uttered, thrashing increasing.

 

“wha’ th’ fuck???”

 

“IS THERE A PROBLEM?” Blue asked, looking over his counterparts with a _very_ unimpressed look.

 

“h-how’d ya get the rope off?” Sans pleaded, looking as pathetic as he sounded.

 

“EASILY, THAT’S HOW. NOW STOP WASTING TIME, WE HAVE MORE WOODS TO SEARCH, AND IF THE TRAPS ARE AS DANGEROUS AS THIS ONE, THEN WE HAVE GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE CHIP COULD HAVE BEEN CAPTURED.”

 

“yeah, so, _problem_ , the rope is slippery.” The blue skeleton’s voice was jittery at this point, clearly starting to lose it.

 

“... WHAT… DO YOU MEAN?”

 

“‘e means th’ rope is fuckin’ slippery, blue bastard!” Red called, “blue magic can’ hold it!”

 

It finally clicked in Blue’s mind, tempting him to try it out for himself. He tentatively reached out with his blue magic to try and grab hold of the net.

 

… Except. It didn’t work. The net _was_ slippery.

 

This rope…  wasn’t meant for hunting animals… It was _meant_ to trap skeletons. Set by Axe, who likely saw it as a fit prank. Now more than ever, he was concerned over your whereabouts. Earlier he’d assumed that you must have been picked up by one of the others… but what if you’d screamed because you’d gotten trapped? What if the reason there’s been no more sounds of struggle was because you got caught in some sort of bear trap modified for skeletons?

 

What if you were _dead_?

 

“.... OH, WELL, THIS _IS_  A PREDICAMENT, ISN’T IT.” Beginning to feel fidgety, Blue’s limbs were buzzing with nervous magical energy the more he allowed his thoughts to dwell on what might have become of you.

 

“uh, well, _yeh_ , y’ _think?_ ”

 

Blue looked down at the ‘edgy’ version of himself distastefully.

 

“YOU KNOW, SARCASM IS THE LOWEST FORM OF COMEDY.”

 

“well _look who’s talkin’,_ mr. salty himself.”

 

“YOUR INSULT GAME IS WEAK, NOT TO MENTION YOU FORGET WHAT POSITION YOU’RE IN.”

 

Cue Red thrashing around like a fish out of water, prompting another annoyed yelp from Sans. “cut the shit, red, just swallow yer pride an’ let blue get us outta here.”

 

“ _alliance, ova’_.” However, that was the last complaint from Red as Blue moved to try and lift the net.

 

….

….

….

 

“SLIGHT ISSUE.” Blue stumbled back as he let go of the net he’d been trying to lift for the past couple of minutes. “IT SEEMS MY POSITION FROM OUTSIDE THE TRAP IS MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR ME TO LIFT THE NET ENOUGH FOR YOU TWO TO GET OUT.”

 

He tried a couple of tugs at the material, stopping when he heard the sounds of pain and displeasure from his counterparts.

 

“AND DRAGGING IT OFF WOULD LIKELY GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST FIRST, RATHER THAN FREE YOU…”

 

Curses from both lazier skeletons.

 

“CAN’T YOU JUST TELEPORT OUT?”

 

“not without a _certain bony ass_ cooperatin’... we’re kinda stuck tagether” Sans explained.

 

“alliance _ova’_!!” Red shouted again.

 

A long sigh left Blue as he summoned a sharp magical bone construct, crouching down to reach over the other skeletons.

 

“uh…. hey…. blue…. buddy…. watch’a doin’???”

 

“YOU LEAVE ME NO OTHER CHOICE…” Blue made a long slash, causing the skeletons to let out identical noises of distress.

 

//////

 

“WELL… IT CERTAINLY IS A LOVELY DAY!” Papyrus started, hoping to engage his counterparts in conversation. Really, he was a skeleton who very much enjoyed casual strolls in the forest, but the lack of conversation was… unsettling to a social butterfly such as himself.

 

“Oh, Yes, How Lovely It _Would Have Been_ , If Only I Didn’t Have To Visit The Freak Brothers…” Slim mumbled.

 

“WELL. I WOULDN’T USE THAT PARTICULAR ADJECTIVE TO DESCRIBE THEM!!” Papyrus put his hand to his mandible in thought, “MAYBE???? ‘RESOURCEFUL’? OR PERHAPS ‘SLIGHTLY UNSETTLING, BUT VERY KIND’???”

 

“Well,” Slim sassed, hands on his hips, “I’m Sure They’ve Been _Very_ Resourceful In Figuring Out The Best Ways To Dismember And Eat Our Friend Limb From Limb Before She Dusts.”

 

“ _pal_ ,” Stretch wheezed, looking a little green in the face. “can you not? ever? say that? again?”

 

“Like We All Weren’t _Thinking_ It.” The dark skeleton sneered.

 

“ _I_ WASN’T!! I WAS THINKING THIS WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO BOND WITH OURSELVES AND ALSO MAYBE EDUCATE CHIP ON THE ‘DO’S AND ‘DON’T’S OF LIVING IN A REMOTE FORESTED AREA. I THINK ‘USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM WHEN EXPLORING THE FOREST’ IS A GOOD START, HMM?”

 

“and while we’re at it, we should remind her to take her shoes next time, too…” Stretch inputted, and Papyrus remembered how he’d seen that you’d left them by the door.

 

Papyrus made a distressed noise in the back of the throat he didn't have. The image of a tiny, mostly defenseless skeleton in the forest without any shoes getting picked up by one of his, admittedly, least friendly looking selves was not very calming.

 

The sight of the Other Brothers’ house not too far away dashed his worry, though.

 

“OUR DESTINATION IS IN SIGHT, NYEH!!”

 

While Slim and Papyrus increased their speed to the point of light jogging, Stretch hung back at his own leisurely pace. “hey… uh… ‘m just gonna call our bros and tell them we got here alright, ‘kay?”

 

“GOOD IDEA!”

 

/////

 

Blue had been sawing away at the rope for what felt like an hour.

 

As much as he was loath to admit it… “I DON’T THINK THIS IS WORKING.”

 

“no _shit_ , sherlock.”

 

“ - !”

 

Blue’s phone began to ring before he could say something witty, drawing his attention away from the trapped skeletons.

 

“YESHELLOTHISISBLUESPEAKINGHOWMAYIHELPYOU?”

 

He said it all in one go, hoping to get the call done with as soon as possible so he could get back to trying to free himselves. He didn’t even take the time to check who the caller was.

 

“bro?”

 

“OH! PAPY! LOVELY OF YOU TO CALL. I’M IN A BIT OF A SITUATION THOUGH, SO I CAN’T TALK LONG. DID YOU FIND CHIP?”

 

Muffled talking in the background. Shuffling of bodies and clothes.

 

“yyyyuuup, the brothers had her all along. not a single - _snick_ \- hair harmed.”

 

It felt like the weight of the world fell off of Blue’s shoulders at his brother’s confirmation. The thoughts of bear traps and dusty purple sweaters were chased out of his head.

 

“WELL THANK THE STARS! DON’T CALL OFF THE RESCUE PARTY, THOUGH, BECAUSE I’M GOING TO NEED SOME BACK UP HERE!”

 

“oh, yeh, what for?”

 

“WELL YOU SEE….”

 

And so all of the skeletons (besides a certain two) had a good laugh.

 

Except... Blue never got to ask his question.

 

_How are you going to get her trust back?_

 

And every night since, he’s held that button in hand as he fell into a fitful sleep. He dreamed of hands with holes, cloaked figures and dusty streets.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! that took longer than expected.... guess that's life tho....
> 
>  
> 
> AND FOR EVERYBODY WHO LEFT A COMMENT, THANK YOU!! i read them everyday, rest assured, to keep myself motivated. i don't know how long it will take me to get back to a regular schedule, but i'm workin' at it!!!
> 
> .... again, tho, seriously THANK YOU SO MUCH to everybody who left a comment! it really means a lot to me!!!! i'm also sorry for not responding to each one individually, as i would usually do, but HOLY COW there's like 30 or smth and i feel like it would get boring to just say 'thank you <3!!!' to each one.
> 
> and for everybody who wanted to know:
> 
> 1\. me and my family are okay!! i'm a few hours away from them normally, so they got some rain at worst!!  
> 2\. finals went SWIMMINGLY!!  
> 3\. also none of you asked but YES i do love u. *muah*


	20. skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guess who finally wants to try their hand at sexual tension.

 

 

You hopped out of Papyrus’ car as he stopped in front of the house’s ‘outdoor’ garage. You didn’t shut the door just yet, opting to turn and grin at Papyrus.

 

“Thanks for the ride!”

 

“T’WAS NO PROBLEM, DEAR CHIP! I’M GLAD WE GOT TO SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME TOGETHER BEFORE THE WEEKEND!” His wink sent you into a small fit of fond laughter - he was such a  _ goof _ sometimes.

 

Although you didn’t know how much him driving you back from you (2nd to last!) meeting at the embassy qualified as bonding time. Not that you didn’t enjoy blasting Metatton’s latest album through the speakers with the top to his convertible rolled down so you two could quote, “ENJOY THE SUN ON OUR SKIN AND THE WIND THROUGH OUR HAIR!”.

 

“I hope you guys have fun… I’ll miss you!” You were, of course, referring to the camping trip Papyrus, Slim, and Stretch were going on for the weekend. Apparently, it was a monthly thing with this world’s Undyne. Usually Blue would go along with them, but he volunteered to stay behind this time.

 

He didn’t say it was because of Sans and Red, nor did the other inhabitants of the house, but the way Red had reacted to Blue announcing it over dinner last night was a little obvious. Sans… Sans wasn’t at dinner. He hadn’t been for the past week or since your little adventure into the woods.

 

You weren't sure if you should appreciate the fact that the two were making themselves scarce - Sans was never around anymore, either at Grillby’s or in his room (or the basement lab). Red…. well…. Red would sit in the same room as you, but not look you in your eye lights or talk to you.

 

On one hand, you obviously needed your space and privacy, but on the other… you felt a little used. Did they think that now you were aware of their little magic trick that you weren’t worth talking to anymore? Did they not think you were ‘worth the effort’ anymore, now that they couldn’t manipulate you?

 

To say that Blue’s news had been a relief was an understatement.

 

Stretch wasn’t too happy about it, though… he had to switch places with Blue… the others had encouraged him by recounting epic tales of their adventures… such as rock climbing or white water rafting…. He didn’t seem too pleased.

 

“CAN YOU TELL STRETCH I’M HERE? I’M ALSO GRABBING SLIM FROM HIS CLASSES LATER, SO DON’T EXPECT HIM HOME!”

 

You grinned again at Papyrus, although it was a little less enthused than before.

 

“Yeah… I’ll get him…”

 

You bid Papyrus goodbye with a wave and walked over to the house. There was nobody on the ground floor… of course… They were probably too busy pretending last week never happened.

 

Stretch was in his room, and a sight for sore eye lights. He’d made an effort to spend more time with you since the whole fight, and the two of you had since more than made up for the other… incident.

 

He was looking down glumly at his packed bag when you walked in, which was such a hilarious sight that you nearly started giggling.

 

“Papyrus is here, time to go.” you told him from the doorway.

 

He sighed, and pouted at you as he slug the bag over his shoulder. “off to war, then, i guess….” giving you a longing look, he comically took your hands, dragging you into his room, and implored, “you’ll write me letters, love?”

 

You imitated his sigh dramatically and leaned in to him, freeing a hand to throw it over your forehead. “Of course, my love! Our parting is but temporary, and I shall write you every night to remind you…” You returned to your previous position, pulling his hands to your rib cage as you rapidly blinked up at him, fluttering the lashes you didn’t have.

 

You stopped after a few seconds, smiling goofily. But Stretch? Stretch was looking down at you with this odd look… It made your SOUL start to race. Why… why would he be giving you such a fond look?!

 

“nyeh heh,” he leaned down towards you, further and further, until his jaw was level with your eye sockets and inched closer until you could feel his breath on your forehead. You eye sockets widened, blinking ceasing as you wondered what he was doing - you felt his breath brush your cervical vertebrae, then the coldness of a large inhale… 

 

He was…

 

Sniffing you?! No, impossible, maybe he was just breathing heavily ...?

 

Then, he was gone, still doing that endearing little laugh as he walked out the door. You were too frozen to even think of turning around, let alone asking what the  _ hell _ that had been. Well, it was a hug, obviously… but… a very intimate hug… or maybe you were reading too much into it?

 

Your hand came up to brush to spot on your neck where you could still feel the chill, blush climbing down your bones all the way to your clavicle.

 

“What…?” 

 

Your SOUL was fluttering maddly, and a bright light alerted you to the fact that it had manifested itself in your ribcage. Blushing even more brightly, you gasped and covered your chest. Thank the stars Stretch had left…

 

A few breaths later, and you were successfully much less blushy and glowly… why had you even had that reaction in the first place, though? It… it was just a friendly hug… that’s right… just a friendly hug.

 

Slowly, you exited Stretch’s room and shut the door behind you.

 

The hallway was dark.. The lights were all off and the windows drawn. It reminded you that you were home alone with Red and Sans…

 

Blue wouldn’t be home until later.

 

Ugh. You really,  _ really _ missed the comradery you used to share between the skeletons. You’d opened up to both of them, had good times eating and teasing each other…

 

But they’d betrayed you.

 

It was getting harder and harder to stay angry at them for what they did - but in no way did that mean you’d forgiven them, now… thinking about what they did… just made you feel sad.

 

And more than a little empty.

 

Well. You know what they say about feelings like these.

 

Fill your emptiness with ice cream and reality TV.

 

Eagerly, you skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen, throwing open the freezer door. Sweet sweet mint chocolate chip, come to mama! As you opened the lid and started spooning in some of that delightful frozen heaven, you were suddenly reminded of Red taking you out for ice cream….

 

Scowling, you stabbed your spoon into the tub.

 

“What a jerk.. Ruining ice cream…”

 

… That didn’t mean that you weren’t going to eat it, though. Just that it would be a little less enjoyable. Just a little.

 

“I’m never sharing ice cream with you again…” you muttered on your way to the living room. Stupid Red and his stupid funny faces and stupid mustard smell… 

 

Uuuughhh…. You missed him….

 

… Maybe ‘Real PTA Parents Of Ebott’ would cheer you up…

 

… Really, Helen? Again with the lemon bars….

 

….

 

…

 

..

 

You didn’t even remember falling asleep - all you knew when you woke up, mouth gritty and head stuffy, there were soft fingers brushing over your skull. You tilted your head towards the hand, encouraging the light petting.

 

… Hmm…?

 

Ah… who was petting you…? The hand was soft, padded with human flesh, so the obvious answer would be - 

  
  


But.

  
  


She’s….

 

Almost as if you were afraid, you cracked your sockets open and looked towards the perpetrator.

 

The human jerked their hand away like your skull was made of lava and stumbled back. Fairly shocked yourself, you scrambled back as far into the couch as you could, sweat manifesting on your skull and eye lights shaking around like crazy.

 

The human loudly apologized, stiff as a board.

 

And thus ensued a mini-staring contest between you and the other.

 

They - he? Was rather short for an adult human - probably around your height, actually. He had creamy, pale skin and golden hair. His eyes (which had always been your favorite part about humans) were almost abnormally round and definitely an odd shade of blue for humans. They were too bright…

 

But you couldn’t think about that right now - there was - there was a  _ human _ , an  _ unknown human _ in the house! How did he get in? Why the hell was he touching you  _ in your sleep _ ? Where were the others?!

 

“H-Human!” You squeaked out, flattening against yourself against the back of the couch. “How did you get here?!”

 

“SORRY, SORRY!” THe other exclaimed again, voice… almost familiar.

 

But that’s impossible - in this new universe, the ones you knew either didn’t exist or were completely warped from how you knew them. And you ‘d certainly never seen  _ this _ human before in any of your previous outings.

 

“Blue?!” You called out, hoping to get the other skeleton’s attention,  _ wherever he was _ . Was he even home??

 

The human before you sighed in relief, hands coming down from their previous defensive position. “OH THANK THE STARS! I THOUGHT FOR A SECOND YOU WOULDN’T RECOGNIZE ME!”

 

This human… was….

 

…

 

Claiming to be Blue?! Ha, did he think you were that dumb?? Blue isn’t human! This intruder is about to get his human butt beat!

 

“You’re not Blue! SANS! RED!” While you knew how to summon a weapon, you were not…  _ totally _ proficient. Yes, when you had the element of surprise, your skills were more than enough to incapacitate an enemy, and in the case where you’d pinned Stretch, your self defense was up to par. 

 

However. Humans were… another category onto themselves. Monsters were pretty puny compared to humans, all things considered. Your inclination to kindness and compassionate made it hard to summon intent to injure humans physically, so you had to rely on magical attacks via the SOUL. That or pepper spray.

 

And, if anything, pulling this human into an encounter was disadvantageous for you; it would trap you with the human until someone stepped in. You were not so confident as to do that, especially since you didn’t know anything about the abilities of the human… not to mention he was pretty beefy from what you could tell.

 

… You couldn’t even feel irritated at the fact that you were calling on  _ Sans and Red _ for help. There was no such thing as shame when your life was on the line - which was a lesson you’d learned quite a while ago.

 

The scar under your eye socket throbbed at that.

 

“NO! I SWEAR, I’M BLUE!”

 

“Liar!” you scrambled off of the couch and made a break for the upstairs. Red had been spending most of his time lately, so you figured it was your best bet. “Get away! Go away!”

 

You tripped your way up the stairs, noting that thankfully, from what you could hear (stumbles and things being knocked over) your assailant was somehow more clumsy than you. You made it up the stairs in record time, yelling out again - 

 

“Red! Get your ass out here! HUMAN!”

 

You kicked his door, not nearly enough to kick it off its hinges, but enough to wake him up if he was sleeping. You saw the human making his way up the stairs out of the corner of your sockets, and redoubled your efforts, banging on the door with bost fists.

 

“Wake up!  _ HUMAN. IN. THE. HOUSE!” _

 

“NO, CHIP, IT’S ME! I’M NOT HUMAN, I MEAN, I LOOK HUMAN - HEY, JUST LISTEN! I CAN EXPLAIN! ALSO I’M SORRY ABOUT TOUCHING YOU THAT WASN’T VERY GENTLEMANLY,”

 

The door busted open,

 

“he touched you??”

 

There was no relief to be found, though. Having opened the door was… another human? This one was  _ significantly _ taller than the other, and much,  _ much _ more muscular. He filled out his clothes (which... oddly looked like Red’s… but this was a human…) a little  _ too _ well, especially his shirt… He had light brown skin and hair the color of finished mahogany - between a deep brown and red

 

Ahh…. maybe you could appreciate his appearance more if he wasn’t  _ a random human intruding in your house _ . His eyes flashed around angrily, and you noticed that they were  _ red, _ he had  _ red eyes _ ,  _ that’s not normal _ .

 

“HumanS???” You exclaimed, turning tail. This was officially  _ too much _ for you. One human was enough to dust you with a hit, but  _ two?? _

 

You might as well be dead right now!

 

And the one in Red’s room… had he done something to Red? It was the only explanation you could think of - Red was territorial, he’d never just  _ let _ a large, meaty human like that into his personal space. He was wearing Red’s clothes, too!

 

And now that you thought about it… the other, blonde human, was wearing clothes that looked awfully similar to Blue’s training outfits. Oh… stars…

 

It was like some weird sci-fi horror movie! Like body snatchers!

 

Did they have some weird human replacement for you, too?!

 

You scrambled into your room and locked the door behind you, thankful that it was there. Snatching your phone up from your dresser, you dialled up Sans. He’d likely still be in his basement lab, hopefully safe from all of this…

 

… And hopefully able to help you. He had the ability to teleport, something that would be  _ an absolute life-saver  _ right now. You just needed to hold the humans off.

 

It took an actual half a minute of listening to the phone ring that you started to consider the possibility that Sans would choose  _ now _ , of  _ all times _ , to be an avoidant bag of bones.

 

The call dropped. He didn’t pick up.

 

Shit.

 

You instantly pressed his contact again, not even wanting to  _ consider _ the heavy footsteps on the stairs and arguing voices of the humans that were drawing closer.

 

“Come  _ on _ , Sans…” You muttered, chewing on the tip of your thumb in anxiety. Ah - that was the sound, the sound of the call going through!

 

“... uhhh, hey… this is… not a good time. sorry.” His tone was final, but you started talking, anyways.

 

“Humans!”

 

You heard a soft curse before Sans spoke again.

 

“... um. yeah. so. about that - “

 

“There are  _ humans _ in the  _ house _ , Sans! I don’t want an excuse, I want you to  _ get me out of here _ !”

 

You heard a little rubbing noise, like skin against skin… but that… Sans didn’t have any skin…?

 

“look, they ain’t gonna do nothin’ to you, so don’t worry, i’ll be there in a sec to explain.”

 

“Explain what?? Sans, I don’t know what you’re on, but I’m not going to trust random humans in my house who are wearing my friends’ clothes!  _ One of them was stroking my skull while I slept! _ ”

 

“.... they  _ what _ .”

 

“Get in here! I’m in my room!”

 

“i... uh… okay...”

 

…

 

The call dropped. You were alone again. At least Sans was coming for you.

 

… Except it’s been a little over a minute, now. The voices that had been arguing downstairs were quieter now. You weren’t sure if they were going away or trying to sneak up on you.

 

Where  _ is _ Sans? That lazy bag of bones can teleport! He was just torturing you, letting your thoughts run crazy with worry… Or… maybe he got caught by the humans. It could explain why they’d gotten quieter and stopped making their way towards you.

 

A steady stream of dread began to build in your SOUL.

 

It only grew when, now, you heard  _ three _ sets of feet heading up the second set of stairs up to your room.

 

You knew it. They definitely had a replacement lined up for you. This was crazy and unreal. You waited with bated breath as the steps got closer and closer, until they were right outside the door. You thanked the stars once again for the lock, though you knew it would last long under the attack of multiple people.

 

But there was no heavy pounding. Only a polite knock. A small pattern you recognized… that.. Was… Sans’ knock…?

 

“y/n?”

 

You sagged in relief - it was Sans, he was okay! But who were the other footsteps?

 

“Sans! Help, there’s humans - “

 

“y/n, y/n, just open the door.”

 

That sounded…. Like something an imposter would say!!

 

“chip… no…” The one who sounded like Red said.

 

Had you… said that out loud?

 

“WE’RE NOT IMPOSTERS! I PROMISE!” The one that sounded like Blue pleaded.

 

“Don’t call me Chip! That’s a name reserved for friends, and even if you  _ were _ Red, he’s and I aren’t exactly on good terms right now!”

 

“fer fuck’s sake”

 

“SHUSH! SHE’S NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE US IF YOU ACT SO CRUDE!”

 

“mebbe i’m jus’ tryin’ ta show her it’s still th’ same old me.”

 

“you two  _ aren’t  _ helping.”

 

“I RESENT THAT STATEMENT.”

 

These… goofy humans! They sounded just like your friends!

 

… maybe there was some weight to what they were saying, after all?

 

Cautiously, you crawl over to the door and unlock it, peaking it open just a crack. Still on your knees, you look up to see yet  _ another _ human. His skin is significantly darker than the other two’s, and his dark hair is fluffy on the top and shaved on the sides.

 

His left eye was that unnatural blue, but his right was a deep brown. He wore Sans clothes… 

 

The human looked down at you in surprise, a soft flush coming over his cheeks. “... Sans..?” You tried.

 

“heh, yeah, ‘t’s me.” He grinned at you, even going as far as to squat down so he’d be on the same level as you (he was smaller than his regular self, just barely taller than the one who  _ might _ have been Blue. He was also less muscular than the others - so to say, he was chubby.)

 

Your sockets narrowed as you flung the door open (which open inwards, so you didn’t knock him flat on his ass, sadly), you dragged him into your room by the collar of his hoodie and glared. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

 

The human stuttered, looking up with his face flushed brightly, his knees on either side of your lap and his face centimeters from your own. You were fixing him with your best look of disapproval, and it seemed to be working, if his fluster was anything to go by. Good. You hoped he felt horrible.

 

“hey,” The human who sounded like Red whined, “what th’ hell do ya think yer doin’, classic?”

 

“CHIP! IT’S ME, I SWEAR!” The human who sounded like Blue cried, shoving the door further open and fixing you with a puppy-dog look that you could  _ absolutely _ see on the skeleton.

 

Sans sure did have a lot of explaining to do.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoooooop whoooooopp!! quick disclaimer, i don't have any pictures for blue or red, but my description of regular ol' undertale sans comes from [this photo](https://www.deviantart.com/todd-net/art/skelefam-567018017) by Todd-Net on deviant art! check 'em out!
> 
> hey, y'all! look, look, i KNOW it's been awhile. i. just. haven't been as inspired for this as i would like, and i didn't want to put out a chapter that was painful to write. buttttt i thought this up, loved it, and wrote it in a few hours. :D. 
> 
>  
> 
> allllsooooo speaking of inspiration.... i've recently been a little more inspired in a few other areas, so i wanted to bang out a few chapters to see if it would help me overcome the writer's block i've had for THIS fic.
> 
> what did i come up with??? a fic just like this one except YOU are a little pure child and your brother was pulled along in the machine with you. want more insight to your brother's character??? there's tons in [THIS FIC](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314894/chapters/48163000)! just want cute interactions with skelly big bros??? [READ THIS FIC](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314894/chapters/48163000)!!
> 
> however, as a responsible writer, i feel obligated to tell you that since we're diving deeper into cam's character, there will be heavy themes of violence, depression and drug abuse/addiction. take care of yourself!
> 
> (how did i try to write a fluffy kid au and end up with a fic about gangs)
> 
> also check me out on tumblr [click here i swear the link works now i swear](https://beanniebenn.tumblr.com)  
>  
> 
> FANART:::
> 
> the lovely [unii.artsy](https://www.instagram.com/unii.artsy/) made [this](https://www.instagram.com/p/B0YnGfxjSL4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) on insta!! check 'em out, they're great!!


	21. ever heard of the ethics of lasagna? let's talk about the physics of spaghetti!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sans explains.

 

 

Blue, Sans and Red all sat before you on their knees, hands in their laps and skulls bowed in shame as you lounged on your bed, looking down on them.

 

… Maybe it was a little mean for you to have demanded they explain themselves like this, but…

 

You needed a little humor after nearly being scared into dust.

 

Also, you were a little in awe of how…  _ different _ the human Sanses looked. For one, they were all much smaller than their monster forms, and for  _ two _ , well… They were actual, real live, breathing  _ humans _ . 

 

With, like, skin and hair and  _ everything _ .

 

A tiny bit of heat diffused to your cheekbones.

 

Ah. Poor word choice. Let’s not think along those lines anymore.

 

You cleared your throat, glad they were looking down so they couldn’t see your fluster. Regaining your composer, you shifted to be sitting upright, looking down at the offending skeletons (humans?).

 

“Okay. Explain yourself.”

 

… The error of your words was quickly revealed to you when each skeleton started to speak at once.

 

“YOU HAD SOMETHING ON YOUR FACE - “

 

“ - yeah, it was his delta damned fingers!”

 

“ - particles, the frequency was strange so i - “

 

“Stop stop!” you called, holding your arms up, “Creepy touching aside, I want to know about…” you flailed your arms, “What the in the fresh delta is going on here!”

 

“anomaly!” Sans blurted suddenly, raising his gaze from the floor to look at you desperately. The other skeletons (okay, you were just going to say humans, this was confusing as all heck) glared at him, gazes still downcast as was terms for their ‘punishment’.

 

… Heheh…. we’re not talking about your small sadism streak….

 

The point is that you’re in charge right now, which is partially to combat how  _ actually terrifying _ it is to have three grown, beefy humans in the same room as you. Never mind the fact that they were your friends, but…

 

Their fleshy human meat bag bodies (crude way to explain it, you’re aware, but it was the most accurate term used to describe the phenomenon occurring) were distorting their SOUL signals. It was making this experience more… how do you say, disorientating? For you.

 

Yeah.

 

After a few weeks interacting with mostly monsters, mostly monsters you  _ knew _ , your SOUL sensitivity had apparently been dialed down in order to balance y’know, feelings, but that was  _ not _ helping at the moment.

 

In your world, you interacted with humans, human kids, even, often. Your sensitivity had been naturally piqued to help read them.

 

The muddled sparks of emotion (mostly panic, fear, guilt) you felt radiating off them, inconsistent and sharp like electrical shocks were  _ nothing _ like the intent you were used to reading off of people.

 

If there was any way to describe it in human, it felt kind of like having a conversation with someone who yelled random stuff in the middle of a conversation angrily.

 

Sans’ eyes met your eye lights before he realized his mistake and looked back at the ground.

 

“‘t was an anomaly… i was, uh, messin’ around with the machine settings and, i uh… didn’t account for any potential anomalies nearby.” he murmured.

 

“What kind of anomaly?”

 

It was pretty obvious that Sans’ field of physics was quite a bit different than yours, but i wasn’t like you couldn’t  _ completely _ understand him. You knew your string theory.

 

And, yeah, you knew a little about quantum mechanics. Enough to get by in a conversation with Gaster.

 

Gaster’s machine had never made sense to you, though, and these boneheads had been doing enough to get it up and running and pulling people into different universes, so you acknowledged the fact that you weren’t exactly up to par.

 

Delta if you weren’t going to try and figure all this out, though. Seeing the boys as humans, while interesting from an aesthetic view, was not very practical.

 

You knew for a fact that once bodily functions started kicking in, all hell was going to break loose. You don’t know how much attention these guys paid to those biology lessons forced onto monsters during the integration process, but you had a feeling that seeing it on a screen was different from experiencing it.

 

“not sure,” he admitted, “i haven’t seen anything like it before. fluctuations in the gravitational force between - “

 

“Short answer, please.” You requested.

 

“sounds t’ me like classic’s talkin’ void pockets.” Red observed with an exasperated tone of voice. “i thought we were  _ done _ with fuckin’ around with th’ buttons afta’ last time, classic.”

 

“Last time?” You inquired.

 

… This sounds like a reoccuring fuck up.

 

“i  _ didn’t _ press any buttons!” Sans defended, “whatever came through wasn’t brought in by me.”

 

“well  _ i _ sure as hell wasn’ tryna go for grabs in the fuckin’  _ void _ .”

 

“And nobody else knows how to use the machine?”

 

Your question prompted the two to go silent.

 

“boss ‘n creampuff know not t’ go down there…” Red said quietly.

 

“DON’T FORGET ME!” Blue squeaked, “I HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN DOWN THERE SINCE I FIRST GOT HERE!”

 

“yeah, yer sumthin’ of an uptight goody two shoes, we know.” Red rolled his eyes. You only briefly saw the red orbs as they flashed at Blue, the skeleton-turned human heading your request to keep his gaze down.

 

… He kind of looked natural, in this form. Unlike Blue and Sans who looked like they’d been forced to wear the itchiest sweater in existence and wanted to peel their skin off.

 

To be fair, considering that they didn’t usually have skin, it was probably an accurate statement.

 

“you don’t think…?” Sans trailed.

 

“fuckin’ kid…” Red growled.

 

“I’m sorry? Am I supposed to know who you’re talking about, or are you going to quit being edgy?”

 

“stretch,” Sans clarified, “i’ve been down in the basement for most of the past weeks,”

 

“Yeah. I noticed.” you interrupted blandly. The human’s cheeks turned a deep red.

 

Red almost started to snicker before you chimed a, “Don’t think I didn’t notice your absence, either,  _ Red. _ ”

 

The laugh died in his throat as he choked.

 

You felt a cacophony of guilty sparks zap your SOUL, and you rubbed your sternum. “You can stop it.” You ground through gritted teeth. Satisfying as it was to know they were stewing in their own self doubt like you’d been, it was getting tiring to have it bounced at you every five seconds.

 

“Whatever stupid things you’re thinking, put them aside at  _ least _ until we can get you guys back to normal.”

 

“yeah… okay.” Sans responded, while Red just grunted affirmative.

 

Blue kept silent, looking strangely sweaty for the one person in the room who hadn’t invaded your privacy.

 

“Go on, now.” You slightly commanded.

 

“i’ve, uh, been in the basement a lot for the past week,” Sans recounted, “so it’s unlikely, but, uh… stretch knows which buttons do what, etcetera. could’a snuck in and messed around.”

 

So they’re saying… Stretch could be behind this?

 

“DON’T BLAME PAPY WITHOUT EVIDENCE!” Blue exclaimed, sounding angry. “HE TOLD ME HE DOESN’T EVEN  _ WANT  _ TO WORK ON THAT MACHINE AGAIN!”

 

“we’re just lookin’ at it logically, baby blue.” Red snarled, “the last time sumthin’ like this happened, it was stretch who was fuckin’ with the machine. ain’t that evidence enough?”

 

Blue’s new blue eyes were tearing up… He was biting his lip so hard he was about to bust it wide open. He wasn’t sad, though. He was  _ angry _ . You’d seen that look enough on some of the kids you used to teach.

 

“YOUR DEFINITION OF LOGIC IS ANOTHER WORD FOR ‘CONVENIENT’! DON’T DRAG MY BROTHER INTO THAT!”

 

“i ain’t seen him around lately, what’s yer explanation fer  _ that _ ?”

 

“Delta,” You told the three, sliding off the bed to pat Blue’s head, “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep that up…” you said, quieter, to Blue, tilting his chin up to stick your index finger between his teeth and lip. 

 

Like releasing the pressure on a machine, he relaxed his bite as to not hurt you.

 

Sure enough, his lip was bleeding.

 

You tsked, smearing the red liquid between your thumb and index finger.

 

“Human bodies are more fragile than monster ones in the weirdest ways…” you commented, “who ever heard of a body that could hurt itself accidentally?”

 

Unbeknownst to you in your focus, the three humans were looking at you with wide eyes. Your fingers sparked with green light as you applied a tiny bit of magic to Blue’s lip. Nothing complicated; you’d healed a split lip more times than you could count.

 

_ She had a bad habit of biting her lip when she was nervous, _

 

You turned back to the boys with a stern look, “I agree with Blue. And I’d like to remind you that the reason you haven’t seen Stretch around a lot during this week is because  _ he’s _ been hanging out with _ me _ .”

 

Properly shamed, Red’s gaze dropped back to the floor.

 

“Now, tell me what you  _ think _ Stretch did, why that matters  _ now _ , and that ‘evidence’ you mentioned.”

 

It was Sans that replied to you this time.

 

“smaller items can be brought through the machine,” Sans explains. “‘s meant to open up the void, after all, but uh…”

 

“you don’t wanna keep anythin’ around that’s been in th’ void fer longer than a minute ‘r so.” Red butt in.

 

“he  _ means _ ,” Sans corrects, “that the void has a habit of sticking to things. anything that’s been in there for awhile ... ‘s more void than  _ stuff _ , y’get what i’m sayin’?”

 

“DELTA..!” Blue curses unexpectedly.

 

Almost… like he knows something… like it was just confirmed.

 

A little bit of dread starts to spread where your stomach should be.

 

Stretch wouldn’t…?

 

“long story short, void pockets are not so good for the whole space time continuum, y’know? stuff that doesn’t exist isn’t supposed to, ah,  _ exist _ in here. it’s an anomaly, and… anomalies tend to attract and create more anomalies.”

 

“one anomaly?” Sans rambles, “not really a problem. but the more it attracts, the more unstable your universe, then one day, while pigs are flying and rainbows are coming out of your cat’s butt, the entire thing decides it wants to collapse. instantly trapping everyone there in statis for the rest of time. or, not time, i guess.”

 

Well if that wasn’t a terrifying thought.

 

“good news is that since it’s attracting more spacetime to itself, we were probably the only ones hit with the ‘turn into a human’ ray, bad news, uh, we don’t know what they hell it is.”

 

“And Stretch..?”

 

“decided ‘e wan’ned t’ test out spaghettification  one day with a pen.”

 

… Red sounded  _ very _ upset.

 

“th’ kid damn near opened up a fuckin’ blackhole in th’ delta damned house jus’ ta see if his pen would turn inta  _ spaghetti _ .”

 

“Not sure that’s how spaghettification  works…” you noted.

 

“tell  _ him  _ that!” Red grouched.

 

“TRYING TO TURN HIS PEN INTO SPAGHETTI DOESN’T MEAN HE WOULD TRY TO DELIBERATELY COLLAPSE THE UNIVERSE, FOR TORIEL’S SAKE  _ LISTEN TO YOURSELF! _ HE MADE A MISTAKE,  _ ONCE _ .”

 

“oh, sure,” Red responded sarcastically, “a mistake that could’a turned us  _ all _ inta spaghetti.”

 

“pasgettification aside,” The chubbiest human of the three started.

 

“ _ Spaghettification  _ .” You corrected Sans

 

“right, pasgettification. void. pocket. potentially universe collapsing stuff.”

 

“I’m still not sure Stretch did that. He didn’t even mention spaghetti once.” You told them with a concerned note in your voice.

 

“well unless  _ you _ did it, there ain’t no other option, really.”

 

“well, there’s - “ Sans began to propose…

 

He was cut off by Blue, who sounded positively  _ distressed _ .

 

“I DID THE SPAGHETTI POCKET!!”

 

Everyone gave Blue a confused look.

 

“VOID POCKET. SPAGHETINATOR. WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT,  _ I _ DID IT!” The smallest human cried.

 

“you… broke into the basement and tried to test spaghettification …?” Sans questioned.

 

“WELL, NO, I GUESS TECHNICALLY  _ YOU _ DID IT,”

 

“me bein’ you and you bein’ him dun’ really count right now, blue boy…” Red trailed.

 

“Well, if A equals B and B equals C…” You input with a grin. Listening to these three bicker is kind of hilarious. The tension that had been plaguing the room earlier was gone, and left in it’s place was something.. Sillier.

 

It was kind of a huge weight off of your shoulders.  _ This _ is what you missed about hangning out with Red and Sans.

 

“let’s stay with physics, please.” Sans requested.

 

“aww…” Red mock pouted, “they’re in th’ same family geome- _ tree _ .”

 

With a flat voice, you sighed, “Your jokes are  _ physics _ -ally painful.”

 

Red snickered, “on a scale of one ta spaghettification?”

 

“Papyrus-level spaghettification.”

 

“don’t think i don’t hear you getting  _ saucy _ over there, chipper.” Sans chimed.

 

“I DESERVE THIS.” Blue monotoned while you were busy losing your mind with laughter over the nickname ‘Chipper’. He reached into his pocket to pull out a small, shiny black object.

 

The three of you instantly zeroed in on the object.

 

“That’s…?” You prompted…

 

“I KNOW,” Blue sighed. “I’M A DIRTY TRAITOR.”

 

“No,” you said, “What is that? Is that the thing? It doesn’t  _ look _ like spaghetti.”

 

Blue’s human eyes looked at you blankly. You were pretty sure if he was still a skeleton his jaw would be on the floor. Well, if he was a skeleton with an actually detatchable jaw.

 

“IT’S… YOURS…?”

 

“Mine -” You were about to refute the statement, when you realized, “Oh, yeah, I remember that!” Gently, you took the button from his hands and examined it.

 

This was the button… from all those weeks ago… The one you’d been trying to get when you’d fallen into the machine and subsequently ended up here, in another universe.

 

“You’ve had it this entire time?”

 

You were  _ not _ expecting to hear such a guilty tone when Blue replied.

 

“I’M A TERRIBLE MONSTER. WORSE, I’VE BEEN TURNED INTO A  _ HUMAN _ FOR MY CRIMES. THIS IS THE UNIVERSE’S WAY OF PUNISHING ME. I’VE BEEN LUMPED IN WITH THE WORST OF THE WORST.”

 

“hey!” Red snapped.

 

He went largely ignored as you went to comfort Blue. He looked to be beating himself up pretty severely for something so minor.

 

“Blue,” You soothed, patting the human’s fluffy hair again. Ah… you missed fluffy human hair… “It’s just a button. I don’t mind.”

 

HIs big puppy dog eyes wobbled (you don’t hink you’ve ever seen Blue act so…  _ childlike _ . It’s odd) as he sat his head down in your lap, still on the floor with you sat on the bed again, “IT’S  _ NOT _ JUST THE BUTTON!”

 

“What do you mean…?”

 

“I’VE..” HIs breath hitches as he obviously contemplates whether he should tell you or not. It does not instill confidence in you. “I SAW YOU.”

 

“...”

 

You do not understand.

 

“THINGS… THAT WEREN’T MEANT FOR MY EYES…”

 

It takes another weird look from you, Sans, and Red for him to blush brightly, his pale skin lit up a vibrant carmine all the way to his ears.

 

“N-NOT LIKE THAT! I MEAN, I SAW YOUR  _ MEMORIES _ . ABOUT YOU… AND YOUR BROTHER… Y-YOUR EYE SOCKET…”

 

A hand left his head to come up instinctively to your eye socket.

 

“You saw that?” You asked quietly.

 

Blue nodded, “YOU WERE JUST A KID… AND YOUR BROTHER, HE SHOULD HAVE, HE SHOULD HAVE - !”

 

You shushed Blue, “Uh, let’s maybe  _ not _ spill all of my secrets in one go, sound cool?”

 

His cheeks were red again as he nodded, “SORRY…”

 

“it makes sense.” Sans suddenly pipped up. His brows were drawn like he was thinking. “If the button was originally tied to your universe, and traveled with you here, it could have picked up some ability to link your SOUL’s memories with the object. entanglement and all that jazz.”

 

“Why does it always come down to my SOUL?” You voiced in an exesaperated manner. This universe has absolutely no privacy, does it?

 

“no idea,” Sans told you, “but if i’m right then it should receive some stability from being around you.”

 

“So, what, I just have to carry it around?”

 

“essentially, unless you’d rather toss it into the void, and uh…” Sans looked off to the side, “i wouldn’t really trust the void with something linked to your SOUL.”

 

“Duly noted.” For safe keeping, you tucked the button into the pocket of your pants. Maybe you’d put it on a string or something.

 

“WOWIE, THAT SURE IS A WEIGHT OFF MY SOUL…” Blue sighed…

 

“You could of just told me, you dingus.” you laughed.

 

“MAYBE, BUT I WANTED TO SEE WHAT ELSE THE BUTTON WOULD SHOW ME.”

 

“So, seeing me beaten to a pulp isn’t good enough for you?”

 

“N-NO! I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT… I MEANT… I HAD STRANGE DREAMS, WHEN I WASN’T YOU. KIND OF LIKE THEY WERE THINGS I SHOULD HAVE REMEMBERED… BUT DON’T. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?”

 

You think about what Stretch had told you, just last week. When he admitted that he was constantly anxious because of nightmares. Nightmares that felt so very real.

 

Then, you thought about Sans. What he’d said.

 

_ “someone… close to me was getting hurt. by another person close to me. over and over again. they didn’t stop. i didn’t stop them. i just had to watch him get hurt over and over and over again…” _

 

….

 

And despite everything, you felt like there were still some things these skeletons were hiding from you. Which was fine, of course. You were hiding plenty of things, too. You weren’t going to make them spill.

 

“Not really,” you admitted. “But it sounds confusing.”

 

“yeah, well,” red said tersely, “mebbe sum things just ain’t supposed t’ be remembered.”

 

You furrowed your brow bones, but didn’t comment on it. There was obviously more going on here than you were probably qualified to deal with. And, unless either Sans or Red wanted to fess up, you likely weren’t going to reach any semblance of understanding.

 

“... About fixing whatever’s going on here…” You started.

 

“yeah,” Sans sighed, “‘m on it. It’ll probably take awhile, so…”

 

“I can help?” You offer.

 

“its, uh… it’s my responsibility, i guess.” Sans politely rejected.

 

“What are we supposed to do in the meantime, then?”

 

Blue perked up, “WEBFLIX HAS A NEW DOCUMENTARY ON THE PERUVIAN RAIN FORESTS!”

 

“ _ score _ .” Red whispered reverently.

 

…

 

And that’s how you ended up watching a documentary, cuddled between two humans.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya!! chapter this week because i got a new laptop (score!).
> 
> i loved writing this chapter, it's definitely shorter, but.. spaghettification is my Big Favorite...
> 
> make sure to check out the accompany fic for this, [Hundred Bad Days](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314894/chapters/48163000)


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